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A Muckreads roundup cataloging the U.S. governments financial waste in Afghanistan.
by Megan McCloskey ProPublica, March 31, 2015, 3 p.m.
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After routing the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, the U.S. government began a now 13-year effort to stabilize and develop the country. It has cost taxpayers billions and some say, achieved little. These stories examine the waste and problems plaguing U.S. reconstruction efforts that, despite the end of combat, will continue to cost billions even as our military presence shrinks.
We are also investigating the failures, and would like to hear from people involved in U.S. reconstruction in Afghanistan.
"By plotting some of the largest civilian and military projects on a map generated by the inspector general's office, The Post found that at least 15 major reconstruction initiatives, projected to cost more than $1 billion, are expected to be beyond the reach of U.S. government personnel next year."
"As one of the project's managers said, it was a 'risky but honorable endeavor,' meant to improve the nutrition of malnourished Afghans by raising the level of protein in their diets. As such, the project's problems model the larger shortcomings of the estimated $120 billion U.S. reconstruction effort in Afghanistan, including what many experts depict as ignorance of Afghan traditions, mismanagement and poor spending controls."
"[General John F. Campbell, commander of all foreign forces in Afghanistan] doesn't want anyone to know how badly things are going in Afghanistan. So he's classified any information related to the capacity of Afghan forces, including how much money is being spent to build the Afghan army."
"But according to SIGAR, eradication has also been a total failure. From 2008 to 2013, when the US anti-opium campaign hit its apex, the US only managed to eradicate 3.7 percent of the land devoted to poppy cultivation. The total amount of land devoted to poppy cultivation was a third higher in 2013 than in 2008."
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Billions Blown in Afghanistan Reconstruction Spending? (MuckReads Edition)