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SIGAR Finds Pentagon Task Force Wasted Millions of Dollars in Afghanistan
The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has found the Pentagon task force spent more than half of its $675 million in contract obligations on indirect costs and overhead not directly related to development projects in Afghanistan.
The temporary program, called the Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, was appropriated $823 million by Congress, of which $675 million was spent on projects, many of which were abandoned of left incomplete, because of “safety concerns, lack of sustainable design, and other problems,” according to a report by SIGAR.
The U.S. officials were unable “to provide reliable data showing the extent to which [task force] projects created jobs, facilitated foreign direct investments, increased exports, or increased Afghan government revenues,” investigators found.
The Pentagon’s unit had “unrealistic expectations” about Afghanistan’s politics, culture, weather and dangers, and “did not have the time, resident expertise, or outside support it needed to do everything it set out to do,” SIGAR wrote.
The task force’s ability to execute reconstruction contracts was not the only shortfall, investigators found. In their report, SIGAR found that 43 of 89 contracted reviewed by the office “used limited competition and sole-source contracting, increasing the government’s risk of waste.” In one case, investigators found the task force awarded seven separate contracts — worth a total of $35.1 million — to reconstruction firms whose senior staff were also task force members.
In the meantime, the deputy spokesman of the Afghan Ministry of Defense, Muhammad Radmanish said, “We had problems in the past, but now the Ministry of Defense leadership seriously fights against the corruption.”
The consumption of global aids and its impact on the situation of Afghan citizens has always been a question, but who is the main culprit of these challenges?
“This careless bookkeeping means American taxpayers may never know what happened to the rest of their money,” said Naser Teymori, a member of Afghanistan Transparency watchdog.
This comes as the SIGAR report confirmed the criticisms of Afghan people that the global aids in the past 16 years have not brought any changes to the lives of people.
Officials at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) say 7,000 incomplete projects of the World Bank are at risk of destruction in Afghanistan. They call on the World Bank to resume the work of these projects.
According to them, discussions have been held with the World Bank about these projects, but there has been no result yet.
“7,000 incomplete projects are being destroyed, and if the work is not started, these projects will be destroyed. We ask the World Bank to resume the work of these projects as soon as possible,” said Noorul Hadi Adel, the spokesperson of MRRD.
Meanwhile, members of the private sector also ask international institutions to resume their work in Afghanistan.
According to the officials of this sector, with the start of these projects, job opportunities will be provided for thousands of people in the country.
“These projects create employment for our people and the country will grow a lot,” said Mirwais Hajizadeh, a member of the private sector.
However, economic experts stated if the work of these projects does not start soon, they will be destroyed and the investments made in them will be wasted.
Ten people have been killed and six others injured by floods in Helmand province in the past week, local officials said on Friday.
According to officials, seven of those were members of the same family, and they were killed in Kajaki district last night.
“Most of the people moved from vulnerable areas to high lands and mountains, and thanks Allah the number of casualties is low,” Sher Mohammad Vahdat, the head of information of the Directorate of Information and Culture in Helmand, said adding rescue teams and security forces have been dispatched to help people.
It is said that the telecommunication system has also been disrupted due to the effect of floods in Kajaki district. Floods have also destroyed thousands of acres of agricultural land.
Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, met with the Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi and discussed issues related to Afghanistan, it was announced on Thursday.
During the meeting, Otunbayeva thanked India for “its critical humanitarian support and longstanding friendship for the Afghan people” and discussed the importance of regional and international cooperation to address prevailing challenges in Afghanistan, UNAMA said on X.
Jaishankar also said on X that the sides exchanged views on the current situation in Afghanistan.
“Underlined that India has provided wheat, medicines, pesticides and school supplies. Appreciate the role of UN agencies as partners in these endeavors,” he said.
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