Funding Afghanistan’s Army Is a Long Con That’s Cost America $60 Billion
by MATTHEW GAULT
There’s no accountability, no oversight and no end in sight
Washington has invested a trillion dollars and more than 2,300 American lives in Afghanistan. It’s one of the most expensive projects in the history of the United States. But rampant corruption, a lack of oversight and dwindling U.S. presence in Afghanistan are leading America and its cash down a dark path. One where Washington hands over billions of dollars to Kabul in hopes it will turn that money over to soldiers and police with no actual ability for Washington to track the cash.
On April 29, John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, testified before a Congressional subcommittee on national security. He was there to tell legislators all about Afghanistan’s security forces, a mix of police and soldiers funded by the American taxpayer. “Every dollar we spend now on training, advising, and assisting the Afghans,” Sopko said, “must be viewed as insurance coverage to protect our nearly trillion dollar investment in Afghanistan since 2001.” That’s correct. The billions of dollars America has put into Afghanistan is a bet — one that only pays off if the country remains stable. The crux of that stability is the Afghan security forces.
Of that trillion, Washington has spent more than $60 billion to train, equip and pay Kabul’s security forces. That includes soldiers for the army, cops to patrol the streets and civilians to support both. It’s a way of hedging the bet. But Washington took a risky bet. It invested in a country where corruption is systematic and has little room for U.S. oversight. The more cash Washington invests in Afghanistan, the more it seems like Kabul has it on the hook in one long con.
There’s been a lot of drama surrounding that information. At the end of 2014, SIGAR asked the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission about troop strength. RSM told SIGAR that the information was classified. The two agencies went back and forth and RSM eventually declassified some basic information about the size of Kabul’s military. According to RSM, the number is a little less than 330,000 combined soldiers, police and civilian support staff. But thanks to a SIGAR investigation, we now know the RSM’s number is wrong. So how many Afghan soldiers are there really? We don’t know. We’ll probably never know. Worse, American taxpayers will continue to pay to support the Afghan army and police at least through 2017.
Read more at link: https://medium.com/war-is-boring/funding-afghanistan-s-army-is-a-long-con-that-s-cost-america-60-billion-1b41135bc833?mc_cid=0a096ba018&mc_eid=19b9faf747