Defective G222 transport aircraft parked next to the runway at Kabul International Airport.
The rapid collapse of the Afghan government to the Taliban fueled fears of a humanitarian disaster, sparked a political crisis for President Joe Biden and caused scenes of desperation at the Kabul airport.
It also raises questions about what happened to more than $1 trillion the US spent to bring peace and stability to a country ravaged by decades of war.
While most of that money went to the US military, billions of dollars were gradually wasted, in some cases exacerbating efforts to build ties with the Afghan people Americans wanted to help.
A special watchdog set up by Congress has documented the successes and failures of America’s efforts in Afghanistan over the past 13 years. While wars are always wasteful, the mis-spent US funds stand out because the US had 20 years to change course.
Here are 10 projects that the U.S. watchdog — the Special Inspector General for Reconstruction of Afghanistan, or Sigar — has labeled as wasted effort:
$549 million aircraft sold for scrap
An effort to build an Afghan Air Force involved spending at least $549 million for 20 Italian-made refurbished G222 twin-turboprop aircraft. But 16 of the planes were left languishing in the weeds of Kabul International Airport after being rendered unflyable due to ongoing maintenance problems.
They were eventually sold for scrap for 6 cents a pound, or $32,000. The Justice Department told the watchdog in May 2020 that “it had no intention of prosecuting the criminal and civil cases related to the failed G222 aircraft program”, so “no one will be held accountable as a result.”
Road to nowhere
The United States Agency for International Development spent $176 million to build a 101-kilometer (63 mi) road between the city of Gardez and Khost Province. Less than a month after it was finished, cigarette inspectors found that five segments had been destroyed and parts of two other segments had been washed away, according to an October 2016 audit.
forest camouflage
The US spent a staggering $28 million buying uniforms for the Afghan military with camouflage patterns that did not match the environment. But Pentagon officials said the design was chosen because the Afghan defense minister at the time thought it looked good.
“He liked the forest, urban and temperate patterns,” according to a June 2017 review.
In a memo to the Corps that year, then Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said, “Instead of minimizing this report or excusing wasteful decisions, I expect all DOD organizations to use this flaw as a catalyst to expose wasteful practices.” to bring.”
‘Melting Buildings’
The US spent $500,000 in May 2012 on an Afghan contractor to build a training complex for the Afghan Special Police Training Center in Logar Province. It was designed to recreate a typical Afghan village and to be used to conduct simulated search and clearance exercises.
But inspectors found that within four months of the US taking control of the training range, water had entered the walls. Bricks used in construction had too much sand and too little clay and started to erode. A January 2015 audit referred to the structures as “melting buildings.”
war on drugs
Afghanistan has long been the world’s largest producer of poppies. In addition to the human toll, the Afghan drug trade was seen as undermining reconstruction and security goals by funding insurgent groups, fueling government corruption and undermining the legitimacy of the state.
Over a 15-year period, the US has spent approximately $8.6 billion on Afghan counter-narcotics efforts. Still, in 2017, poppy cultivation and opium production reached record highs and “drug production and trafficking remain entrenched,” Sigar wrote.
Power transmission error
Inspectors found that the US Army Corps of Engineers mismanaged a $116 million contract with an Afghan company to build a power plant to supply electricity to more than a million Afghans.
The mismanagement resulted in the US spending nearly $60 million on a project that was not operational “because land acquisition and priority issues were not resolved and there was no contract provision to connect the system permanently to a power source,” it reported. Cigar in March 2018.
Cigar auditors found the system may also be “structurally unsound and pose a risk” to Afghans living near cell towers and lines or working at a nearby substation.
Empty HQ
The U.S. military spent $36 million on a 64,000-square-foot (5,950-square-meter) command-and-control facility at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand Province that includes a war room, briefing theater and enough office space for 1,500 people.
“It appears to be the best-built building I’ve seen on my travels in Afghanistan,” a Cigar inspector wrote in July 2013. “Unfortunately, it is unused, unoccupied and will probably never be used for its intended purpose.”
Hotel Shell
Sigar discovered “serious deficiencies in the management and supervision” of $85 million in loans provided by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation for the construction of a 209-room hotel and the adjacent 150-room apartment building of Kabul Grand Residences, directly opposite the US Embassy in Kabul.
A November 2016 review found that both the hotel and the apartment building were incomplete, empty shells were left behind, and both loans were in default.
Unused military camp
The Pentagon spent $3.7 million building a camp near the border with Turkmenistan for the Afghan National Army. Despite being partially ready for use at the time of the Sigar review in 2013, it remained unused with “all essential areas — such as the administration building, latrines and firing ranges — empty.”
A Pentagon official told investigators that the camp was not being used because there was no dining facility.
Afghan army?
The US has spent about $83 billion in nearly 20 years establishing a force that could fight the Taliban and ensure the stability of Afghanistan. But the Taliban rebuilt their strength and the Afghan military collapsed in weeks as the US withdrew. Even US military leaders seemed stunned by the militants’ advance.
“There are no reports that I am aware of that predicted a security force of 300,000 would evaporate in 11 days,” General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday.
The US shipped hundreds of tons of equipment, but as they approached Kabul, Taliban fighters seized US planes, helicopters, weapons and ammunition intended for the Afghan military.
John Sopko, who oversaw the cigarette audits, was asked last month before the collapse of Afghanistan whether military spending had been wasted.
“That’s hard and it’s hard to say everything was wasted,” Sopko replied. “And even though there are serious problems, and I have serious concerns and I think our military does and most observers have serious concerns, the story is not over. The last act is not played. They can still turn it around. ”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NewsMadura staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
