Responding to requests from members of Congress, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has made his first attempt to calculate exactly how much money the US wasted in Afghanistan.
After 10 months of research, SIGAR said they could document $15.5 billion in waste since SIGAR’s inception in 2008. This is 29 percent of all of the spending audited by the SIGAR, who concedes the figure is probably low.
Current SIGAR John Sopko says that the figure is “likely only a portion of the total waste, fraud, abuse, and failed efforts.” He warned that the $4 billion in stabilization programs only “enabled corruption and bolstered support for insurgents.”
Furthermore, Sopko noted that $7.3 billion was spent on trying to stem the Afghan drug trade. Not only did that do “very little,” Sopko noted that Afghan opium production is at its highest levels since 2002.
15.5 billion. You’re not even close. Tick Tock on the American Empire. War is the priority for our government. Have to keep those kickbacks coming. Corruption 24/7.
implying that any money spent on afghanistan for the past 17 years has been anything other than pure waste.
Who writes these things this is hilarious. Lets see on the one hand a trillion spent and only 15 billion wasted, that is fantastic. We have a Pentagon operation running at 98.5% efficiency unprecedented. On the other hand we spent a trillion dollars and failed to achieve our objectives, ile it was all wasted.
As usual I exaggerate we did manage to kill OBL after a decade not that by then it changed anything.
The long Afghan War without a strategic goal has wasted over a trillion dollars, near 10% of an entire year’s US GDP. This admission of a few billion wasted is more cover-up than disclosure.
“only a portion”
…
At the apex of a late night cable TV watching session, they must’ve ordered one of those Euphemaster 3000’s for three easy payments of $299,999,999.56…
Did they look between the sofa cushions?
Indeed but how about the billions the CIa have made from supplying the world with heroin.. The CIA are the worlds biggest drug runners. Wake up!
15 billion is just spare change compared to what the drug crop and smuggling have earned for our Federal Government!