In recent months, some of the airstrikes in Afghanistan have been
credited to the Afghan Air Force. This air force is operational, to some
extent, though calling it functional would be an exaggeration.
Officials say that 11 years after the US started this process, and about $8 billion of US funding in, the Afghan Air Force is still struggling.
Only about one in five airstrikes in Afghanistan involves an Afghan
plane, and officials say that civilian casualties in Afghan strikes are
even worse than the shoddy track record of the US planes.
The plans are to continue growing the air force, but US officials
concede there is no timetable that’s going to get them to the point
where the Afghans can control the skies of their country by themselves,
with the expectation of them relying heavily on US air support for
years, perhaps decades to come.
And relying on American money, of course. As with the rest of the Afghan
military, the US decisions made on force size for the air force are
being made irrespective of Afghanistan’s ability to maintain or pay for
them.
I guarantee that the profits of the crony-capitalist arms merchant corporations have benefited quite well from the wasted billions.
Not to mention the politicians and MIC insiders get contracts, commissions & high end employment… plus all they can steal, finagle, extort and or scam…
It’s a thieves paradise. What percent of that 8-billion ended up in U.S. natinal”s pockets…..???????????
Nothing succeeds like failure I guess. ‘Control Afghan skies’ – against who exactly? Other Afghans?
We gotta keep stirring the pot. It’s in our DNA.
When it comes to foreign policy, we’re pretty much a serial disaster. As such, we’re possibly a good candidate for Einstein’s definition of insanity.
Actually the Afghan Air Force isn’t bad for $8 billion over 11 years.
Air forces don’t come cheap, and Afghanistan has no civilian flight tradition.
Still a waste of money though. If jet bombers can’t do the job, prop aircraft won’t either.
nation building at its best. 8 billion investment is nothing compared to the 100b purchase from MIC when it’s fully operational. In business terms i bet US can spend up to 10-20b to ensure 100b purchases. It’s looking like a great margin on the back, or funded by US taxpayer dollars.