Six Years and $17 Billion Wasted in Afghanistan with Nothing to Show for It


The U.S. government has wasted at least $17 billion in taxpayer money in Afghanistan on various projects that never made it off the ground or were doomed to fail because of incompetence or lack of maintenance in the war-torn country, according to a new report.

ProPublica looked at over 200 audits conducted by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) in the last six years and tallied up the costs for the wide range of failed efforts to reach the $17 billion price tag.
The watchdog office formed in 2008 -- seven years after American military forces entered Afghanistan -- only scratched the surface of the estimated $110 billion effort to rebuild the country. That gap means the amount of wasteful spending is probably much higher.

The new study is like a greatest hits compilation. It recounts the most egregious examples, many of which grabbed headlines over the years, of how Washington threw good money after bad. It includes:

$8 million to end Afghanistan’s drug trade, which by most accounts is flourishing today as never before
$2 billion for roads that the Afghan government is unlikely to maintain due to lack of funds and security concerns
$1 billion for unrealized criminal justice reform efforts

While those initiatives can be laid at the feet of several government agencies, the report notes that the Defense Department is solely responsible for multiple boondoggles, such as $936 million for various aircraft that can’t be maintained and another $486 million for cargo planes that can’t fly.
The Pentagon also shelled out $470 million on the Afghan Police. The study also notes the $43 million gas station that has roiled Capitol Hill in recent weeks.

The timing of the report couldn’t be better for SIGAR. John F. Sopko, chief of the watchdog office is slated to appear before a Senate Armed Services Committee subpanel shortly after lawmakers return from their holiday break.

The January 20 hearing was ostensibly to scrutinize the work by the Pentagon’s Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, which spent between $700 million and $800 million on economic redevelopment in Afghanistan on projects, like absurdly pricey gas station, as well as $150 million on villas and private security for the group’s staffers.
But Senators will likely use the ProPublica report as a way to press Brian McKeon, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, about the task force’s work. The group disbanded earlier this year. Pentagon officials have argued, rather absurdly, that there is no one in the sprawling department today with any knowledge of the task force, including how it spent its money.

The new price assessment also gives SIGAR supporters like Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) fresh arguments for keeping the watchdog office around even though the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan formally ended last year.

I wonder if a couple of mil went to the Clinton Foundation?

Its more like 6 Trillion between the 2 wars and we are no better off than before. How much did GWB and Dicky make off them should be the question!!!!!!!

you're forgetting about the trillions of dollars of resources in Afghanistan, they don't care if the government takes the hit, as long as the big business make a big profit... have to keep the stockholders happy...

And then Afghanistan gave the mineral contracts to China!

crap...we should bomb them too then, the bastards...

and we gave all our Uranium rights to Russia...go figure?

Well, sort of. It's not really NOTHING to show. That is, the invasion succeeded, in a way.

It's just the promised "no-nation-building," nation building that has been an utter failure.

The "success" ended when we got some sense of violent revenge for the 9-11 attacks. We killed more of their people than they killed of ours.

woohoo!!! we win!!

Post war perks aren't what they use to be eh?

tell Hitlery how thankful you are for that!

Our debt alone is in the trillions.

That doesn't include the trillions in taxes received and spent, sometimes per month (there's more than just income tax).

$17 billion is a small drop in the bucket of taxpayer (my) money waste.

At least the government gave soldiers jobs and something to do.

Rifle ready projects.

What uranium rights?