The 19-year-old war in Afghanistan continues to be a huge sinkhole for US taxpayer dollars. The US government’s oversight authority that monitors waste in Washington’s Afghanistan reconstruction effort released a report this month updating its findings.
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) found that as of December 31st, 2019, Congress appropriated almost $134 billion to Afghanistan reconstruction since the 2002 fiscal year. Of that amount, SIGAR reviewed about $63 billion and found approximately $19 billion or 30 percent was lost to waste, fraud, and abuse.
Between January 1st, 2018, and December 31st, 2019, SIGAR found an additional $3.4 billion was lost to waste, fraud, and abuse. Of that total, SIGAR identified $1.5 billion in taxpayer funds that were lost to waste, $300 million lost to fraud, and $34 million lost to abuse. The remaining $1.6 billion was allocated to counter-narcotics, which SIGAR believes was also wasted.
In a 2018 report, SIGAR described US counter-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan as a “failure.” A UN report from 2019 found Afghanistan is the source of 80 percent of the world’s illicit opium production despite the billions of US taxpayer dollars being spent to stop it.
Since SIGAR was formed in 2008, the oversight authority has investigated approximately 44 percent of the $134 billion spent by the US on Afghanistan reconstruction. According to Brown University’s Costs of War project, as of September 2019, the US has spent $2 trillion on the war in Afghanistan. The number includes interest on borrowed money used to fund the war and money spent on care for veterans.
In other words, US funnels $2 Trillion of taxpayer money to fund the war on terror across 5 Countries and destabilize the Middle East in colonizing the Middle East.
Now when you write the correct headline, and add some dose of truth:
It actually seems like it was pretty cheap. You are welcome World Bank, please keep pumping dollars while we do the dirty work.
Is SIGAR condemning or just bragging????
or recruiting avid MBA grads….
Think of it as cost of doing business. That would be the heroine business.
Money is never ‘wasted’ or ‘lost’ unless it is physically destroyed.
The banks launder trillions, and new billionaire criminal organizations
are forming constantly.
So your pedantic issue is with the vocabulary used in the article and not with stolen taxpayer funds
Vocabulary makes the issue appear impersonal — and as far as I know, we NEVER go after the individuals and organizations that steal/misdirect/obfuscate the taxpayer funds.
There is no accountability — in fact wars are merely a money conveyor belt to enrich the chosen beneficiaries.
This is news? Article somewhat misleading but trillions spent and “only a few billion” wasted or lost to fraud. (sic)
I would believe that a few more billions have been lost but hell, look what was accomplished….um, zilch, nada.
The numbers in this article are way too low and not even close.
January 23, 2020 The Pentagon may be worse at managing money than an E-3 just back from deployment
The Pentagon may be worse at managing money than an E-3 just back from deployment. The Pentagon moved a total of $35 trillion among its various budget accounts in 2019, Tony Capaccio of Bloomberg first reported.
https://taskandpurpose.com/pentagon-35-trillion
Really? Who’d have thought…
In a 2018 report, SIGAR described US counter-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan as a “failure.” A UN report from 2019 found Afghanistan is the source of 80 percent of the world’s illicit opium production despite the billions of US taxpayer dollars being spent to stop it.
This on the day that Perdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, pled guilty to federal criminal charges for its role in the US opioid crisis- $8 billion dollar fine.
We invaded Afghanistan and around 450,000 Americans died over the next decade from opioid overdose.
Good post! This is a must read.
June 10, 2014 Drug War? American Troops Are Protecting Afghan Opium. U.S. Occupation Leads to All-Time High Heroin Production
http://www.globalresearch.ca/drug-war-american-troops-are-protecting-afghan-opium-u-s-occupation-leads-to-all-time-high-heroin-production/5358053
http://publicintelligence.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/opium-fields10-1024×682.jpg
Correct. I would have ignored this claim a few years ago, but learned the US military has protected the opium trade since the 1830s. This is why US troops must remain in Afghanistan.
Allot of people do but free thinkers and researchers know better. I have this from 1993 for more support.
December 3, 1993 The CIA Drug ConnectionIs as Old as the Agency
LONDON— Recent news item: The Justice Department is investigating allegations that officers of a special Venezuelan anti-drug unit funded by the CIA smuggled more than 2,000 pounds of cocaine into the United States with the knowledge of CIA officials – despite protests by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the organization responsible for enforcing U.S. drug laws
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/03/opinion/03iht-edlarry.html
All this under Prez. Trump,,,what a load! 🙁
Holy shitsticks! (And this, is just for Afganistan? How about; Iraq/Libya/Syria,etc. Donald Trump; has until the election- to finish off Syria and trash Iran- otherwise Sleepy Joe will do it for him. (In order to finish the PNAC mandate.) Personally- I don’t think Donald Trump wants to do this- because he knows what it leads to. So- Joe will take care of it? Then- the Democraps will say: “Joe- is obviously bananas. He has dementia- so we have placed him in the rubber room at the local funny farm, and everything is all fixed-now! And we will put Killary back in charge.”
Not really much of a choice- huh? It does not really matter, who gets elected- civil war will happen! (Because that is what certain people want.)