America has reportedly lost $19 billion to fraud and abuse in Afghanistan. That’s not how much we spent there. Rather, it is how much we’ve wasted there based on audit findings. Follow me and we’ll try and put this in perspective.
Today Afghan families are still fleeing their homes following fighting in Helmand province. Helmand is in southern of Afghanistan. The fighting is between the Afghan military and Taliban insurgents. The people of the country and the Taliban live as a theocracy. Why are we sending aid to this nation which produces nothing but opium and Islamists?
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) is releasing findings this week. The report says, The United States has lost $19 billion in Afghanistan since 2002. That is financial loss due to “waste, fraud and abuse.” SIGAR is monitoring U.S. spending in the 19-year war in Afghanistan.
SIGAR notes the total of congressional appropriation for Afghan reconstruction programs is nearly $134 billion. That is the expenditure since the ouster of the Taliban in late 2001.
“Of that amount, SIGAR reviewed approximately $63 billion and concludes that a total of approximately $19 billion, or 30% of the amount reviewed, was lost to waste, fraud, and abuse,” the report said.
The SIGAR audit identifies approximately $1.8 billion in waste, fraud and abuse between January 2018 and December 2019. The task of the oversight office is reviewing reconstruction funding. It is also presenting recommendations for putting the money to better use. The assumption being the better use would be for other programs in Afghanistan. So, how much is Afghanistan worth?
Spending as compared to…
The Trump administration is pressing the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents. The goal of the pressure is negotiation of a political settlement to permanently end the conflict. The Afghan rivals are currently engaging in direct peace talks in Doha, Qatar. The dialogue is the product of a peace building agreement.
It is something the Trump administration sealed with the Taliban last February. It aims to close the war and bring home all U.S. forces by May 2021. The U.S. plus allies invasion of Afghanistan was a response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Taliban government at the time was harboring the al-Qaida terror network. The leader of al-Qaida was Osama bin Laden, who masterminded the 9/11 attack.
The war has cost America the lives of more than 2,400 U.S. soldiers. The cost financial cost is nearly $1 trillion. SIGAR has routinely criticized the Afghan government’s efforts to curb corruption as inadequate. SIGAR notes it is a major concern and a source of frustration, among the donor community.
In a report released in early 2020, the U.S. agency said Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s administration “is more interested in checking off boxes for the international community than in actually uprooting its corruption problem.” Hoop jumping, yes. Progress and change, no.
The anti-corruption efforts and reform programs will come under scrutiny next month. At that point Afghan officials and international donors meet in Geneva. They are to consider future aid commitments to Afghanistan.
Have we heard any debate questions in our presidential on this topic? Why not? We spent as much in Afghanistan as we spend annually on Social Security and Healthcare… Priorities matter. We need to discuss them. So, how much is Afghanistan worth?