As the United States struggles with major problems — from crumbling infrastructure to rampant homelessness — it’s infuriating and mind-boggling to learn that the government has spent more money reconstructing Afghanistan than it did rebuilding Europe at the end of World War II, according to a government watchdog. If Afghanistan was actually “reconstructed” that would be one thing (including nothing short of a miracle) but instead billions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted, NBC News reported.
When adjusted for inflation, the $113.1 billion spent in Afghanistan outstripped post-WWII spending by at least $10 billion, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) told Congress last week.
Billions were squandered on projects that were either useless or sub-standard, or lost to waste, corruption, and systemic abuse, according to SIGAR’s reports. Special Inspector General John F. Sopko gave NBC 12 examples of the worst of the worst; here are a few:
$3 million for the purchase — and then mystery cancellation — of eight boats. The military has been unable to provide records answering “the most basic questions” surrounding the purchase and cancellation of eight patrol boats for landlocked Afghanistan. As of 2014, the boats were still sitting unused at a Navy warehouse in Yorktown, Virginia.
$81.9 million on incinerators that either weren’t used or harmed troops. Nine facilities were built; four were never used. In addition, inspectors said it was “disturbing” that “prohibited items,” such as tires and batteries, continued to be burned in Afghanistan’s 251 burn pits.
$36 million on a military facility that several generals didn’t want. And it was never used, making it “a total waste of U.S. taxpayer funds,” Sopko said. The general in charge of the surge asked that it not be built because the existing facilities were “more than sufficient,” the watchdog said. But another general denied this cancellation request, according to SIGAR, because he said it would not be “prudent” to quit a project for which funds had already been appropriated by Congress.
$34.4 million on a soybean program for a country that doesn’t eat soybeans. The Department of Agriculture had dibs on this one, funding a program by the American Soybean Association to try to introduce the foodstuff into the country in 2010, which was a complete failure.
In November, SIGAR reported that the U.S. spent $43 million on an Afghanistan gas station — 140 times more than it should have cost.
And the list goes on and on. Some more morally bankrupt than others, such as the $600,000 to build hospital where infants were washed in dirty river water because it lacked plumbing. It’s past time that Congress, President Obama and the presidential candidates acknowledge our grotesque military-industrial complex, and offer ways to begin its dismantling; and the reconstructing of our own country.
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