U.S. inspector general paints grim picture of Afghanistan reconstruction

After 15 years, billions of dollars and thousands of American casualties, U.S. efforts to rebuild Afghanistan are in a perilous state, according to the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.

John F. Sopko's assessment has its doubters, but he paints a stark picture of security so shaky and roads so dangerous that inspector general staff take helicopters to the airport rather than drive. Contracting can be so shoddy, buildings crumble months after they're built.
More than 700 schools have been closed because of the ongoing insurgency. Bribery, money laundering and other forms of corruption continue to sap revenues. And despite at least $7 billion in counternarcotics spending, opium production hit 3,300 tons in 2015 -- exactly the same level it was in 2000, according to Sopko.

"Fifteen years into an unfinished work of funding and fighting, we must indeed ask, 'What went wrong?'" Sopko said in remarks prepared for delivery at Harvard University Thursday. "The reconstruction effort in Afghanistan is in a perilous state."

Sopko, who has a background in international law and as a congressional investigator before being appointed by Obama in 2012, said the U.S. military drawdown has created blind spots for the Pentagon, which isn't as able to collect reliable information on Afghan security capability and effectiveness.

Conditions there, he said, "illustrate a grim strategic threat."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/07/politics/afghanistan-reconstruction-inspector-general-report/index.html

Wiki: SIGAR - Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction

Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) is the U.S. government’s leading oversight authority on Afghanistan reconstruction. Congress created the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction to provide independent and objective oversight of the Afghanistan Reconstruction funds. Under the authority of Section 1229 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (PL 110-181), SIGAR conducts audit, inspections, and investigations to promote efficiency and effectiveness of reconstruction programs, and to detect and prevent waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars. SIGAR also has a hotline that allows individuals to report suspected fraud.[1]

SIGAR's mission is to "promote economy and efficiency of U.S.-funded reconstruction programs in Afghanistan and to detect and deter fraud, waste, and abuse by conducting independent, objective, and strategic audits, inspections, and investigations"....

..Quarterly reports[edit source | edit]

Public Law 110-181 directs SIGAR to submit a quarterly report to Congress.[2] This congressionally-mandated report summarizes SIGAR's audits and investigative activities. The report also provides an overview of reconstruction activities in Afghanistan and includes a detailed statement of all obligations, expenditures, and revenues associated with reconstruction.[3]

As part of its legislative mandate, SIGAR tracks the status of U.S. funds appropriated, obligated, and disbursed for reconstruction activities in Afghanistan in the Quarterly Report. As of September, 30, 2014, the United States had appropriated approximately $104.08 billion for relief and reconstruction in Afghanistan since FY 2002. These funds have been allocated into four major areas:[4]

$61.54 billion for security ($4.07 billion for counternarcotics initiatives)
$30.65 billion for governance and development ($3.69 billion for counternarcotics initiatives)
$2.89 billion for humanitarian aid
$9.00 billion for civilian operations

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Inspector_General_for_Afghanistan_Reconstruction
http://sigar.mil

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH AFGHANISTAN RECONSTRUCTION WATCHDOG

An ineffective $8 billion counternarcotics effort, $500 million worth of cargo planes that had to be turned into scrap metal and a $30 million program to grow crops that nobody wants — those are just some of the examples of how US funds have been wasted in Afghanistan.

While taxpayers have every right to be upset about how their money has been squandered, they might feel even more strongly about the lack of consequences for those who spend it so unwisely.

“We don’t hold people accountable for losing and wasting taxpayer money,” John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), told WhoWhatWhy in an exclusive interview.

“People have got to be fired, people have got to lose promotions, people have got to be demoted. And only when that happens will we start to see really significant changes with protecting the taxpayer’s dollar.”

The special inspector general says his team is doing all it can in a difficult environment. Its criminal investigators have recovered nearly $1 billion in fines and restitution. Although dozens of people have been indicted when crimes were committed, Sopko noted that most of the problems he and his team encounter are not related to theft.

“It isn’t criminality,” he said “It’s just waste and abuse.”

And in those cases, despite the vast sums involved, not much is happening with regard to personal responsibility...

http://whowhatwhy.org/2015/10/29/exclusive-interview-with-afghanistan-reconstruction-czar/