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How Have U.S. Efforts to Rebuild Afghanistan Gone? Help ProPublica Investigate

Over the last 13 years, American taxpayers have footed an enormous bill on Afghan reconstruction projects more inflation-adjusted dollars, in fact, than were spent on the Marshall Plan to rebuild a devastated Europe after World War II.

The Pentagon, State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development have spent the billions on building an Afghan army and police force, constructing roads, schools, health clinics and other structures, and developing governance projects such as a court system.

But have those programs been successful? The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction regularly reports that many projects have fallen woefully short of their goals or have been an outright waste (see our roundup of some of the best reporting on this issue).

We'd like to hear from people who have been directly involved in reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan (or Iraq), whether through the military, the State Department, USAID or a nongovernmental organization.

We're also interested in talking to Afghans about how they perceive American efforts. What's working and what's not? Do you know of a project that hasn't met expectations?

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How Have U.S. Efforts to Rebuild Afghanistan Gone? Help ProPublica Investigate

March 31st, 2015

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Former Blackwater gets rich as Afghan drug production hits record high

An Afghan farmer harvests in an opium poppy field in Jalalabad, Afghanistan on 27 March 2015. Afghanistan is listed as worlds largest opium producer. Photograph: Ghulamullah Habibi/EPA

In a war full of failures, the US counternarcotics mission in Afghanistan stands out: opiate production has climbed steadily over recent years to reach record-high levels last year.

Related: Opium harvest in Afghanistan reaches record levels after troop withdrawal

Yet there is a clear winner in the anti-drug effort not the Afghan people, but the infamous mercenary company formerly known as Blackwater.

Statistics released on Tuesday reveal that the rebranded private security firm, known since 2011 as Academi, reaped over half a billion dollars from the futile Defense Department push to eradicate Afghan narcotics, some 32% of the $1.8bn in contracting money the Pentagon has devoted to the job since 2002.

The company is by far the biggest beneficiary of counternarcotics largesse in Afghanistan. Its closest competition, the defense giant Northrop Grumman, claimed $250m.

According to the US inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, the $569m Academi got from US taxpayers paid for training, equipment, and logistical support to Afghan forces conducting counternarcotics, such as the Afghan National Interdiction Unit, the Ministry of Interior, and the Afghan Border Police.

Far from eradicating the deep-rooted opiate trade, US counternarcotics efforts have proven useless, according to a series of recent official inquiries. Other aspects of the billions that the US has poured into Afghanistan over the last 13 years of war have even contributed to the opium boom.

In December, the United Nations reported a 60% growth in Afghan land used for opium poppy cultivation since 2011, up to 209,000 hectares. The estimated $3bn value of Afghan heroin and morphine represents some 15% of Afghan GDP.

Given the growth in opium poppy cultivation, it must be assumed that the Talibans income from the illegal trade in narcotics has remained an important factor in generating assets for the group, the United Nations reported.

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Former Blackwater gets rich as Afghan drug production hits record high

March 31st, 2015

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