In Afghanistan, U.S. breeds white elephants: Our view

[rug]

The Editorial Board, 6:32 p.m. EDT July 21, 2013

War is expensive, and no one wants to risk American lives by fighting on the cheap. But in Afghanistan, the U.S. government's open checkbook has too often produced the sort of wasteful spending that can undermine public support for the war.

In the nearly 12-year-long fight, American taxpayers have spent nearly $93 billion on "reconstruction," which includes everything from building schools to equipping the Afghan military and securing the government. That's about the same amount the U.S. government is spending this year on domestic highways, airports and other transportation projects.

How much of the Afghan spending has been wasted is unknown, but examples uncovered by John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, suggest that the amounts are substantial.

Some would be comical if they weren't so infuriating:

•The Defense Department built a 64,000-square-foot, $34 million headquarters building in southwestern Afghanistan, even though a Marine commander said he didn't want or need it. The building has never been occupied and will likely be torn down without ever being used.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/07/21/afghanistan-reconstruction-special-inspector-general-editorials-debates/2573531/

[Vinnie From Indy]

1. More

The Pentagon is spending more than $770 million to buy 18 Swiss turboprop planes and 30 Russian helicopters for Afghanistan's counternarcotics and counterterrorism air wing, despite a shortage of Afghan pilots capable of flying the aircraft and mechanics who can maintain them.

The Defense Department spent $11.5 million to build four incinerators for solid waste at a key U.S. military base. Sopko found that the two largest incinerators were not being used; instead, solid waste was being burned in an open pit, worsening the already bad air quality at the base.

U.S. officials hired an Afghan contractor so inept that the courthouse he built was unusable. The same contractor is bidding to, yes, tear the building down.

Here's one that will leave a mark:
Despite repeated complaints, American contracts and money are going to about 60 Afghan contractors with ties to al-Qaeda or the Taliban, which means U.S. taxpayers could be helping to fund the enemy.