Pentagon can’t account for $1 billion in Afghan reconstruction aid

[TexasTowelie]

WASHINGTON — The Defense Department can’t account for $1.3 billion that was shipped to force commanders in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2014 for critical reconstruction projects, 60 percent of all such spending under an emergency program, an internal report released Thursday concludes.

The missing money was part of the relatively small amount of Afghanistan spending that was routed directly to military officers in a bid to bypass bureaucracy and rush the construction of urgently needed roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, water treatment plants and other essential infrastructure. About 70 percent of the $100 billion the United States has spent to rebuild Afghanistan during more than 13 years of war went through the Pentagon, with the rest distributed by the U.S. Agency for International Development and other civilian departments.

A yearlong investigation by John F. Sopko, the U.S. special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, found that the Pentagon couldn’t – or wouldn’t – provide basic information about what happened to 6 in 10 dollars of $2.26 billion it had spent over the course of a decade on the Commander’s Emergency Response Program.

“In reviewing this data, SIGAR found that the Department of Defense could only provide financial information relating to the disbursement of funds for CERP projects totaling $890 million (40 percent) of the approximately $2.2 billion in obligated funds at that time,” Sopko’s report says.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/04/23/264136/more-than-1-billion-in-us-emergency.html

[SomethingFishy]

1. Still missing 11 billion from Iraq too.. not to mention the 2 trillion they can't "track"

Boy you file taxes one day late and the penalties and interest start racking up, but they loose trillions of dollars and their reply is " well we spent it but it's just too complicated to track where the money went"

Kind of funny that...

[Lurks Often]

2. Where the money always goes to: graft, corruption, bribes and other pay offs

to get things done either correctly, in a timely manner or at all.

[Takket]

3. well, think of it this way....

The Pentagon losing a billion is like you or I losing a dime.

[jwirr]

4. If I am correct they do not even audit the Defense Department. At least during the W years.

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. This really is outrageous. Pentagon obviously has too much money. Cut the budget.

[daredtowork]

6. We spent $100 billion to rebuild afghanistan

but force human beings to live on $336/month in the US because we "don't have the money" to fix welfare?

[JaneyVee]

7. The rest was spent on drugs and prostitutes.

[n2doc]

8. Can you imagine the berserk outrage if they couldn't account for 1 billion in food stamp funds?

Or science funding? Or basically anything the RW doesn't like?

[Ichingcarpenter]

11. I really don't know who is rw when we are in charge of this shit.

last time I looked the executive branch is in charge of defense and state.

[Skittles]

9. but you poor people cannot spend your food aid on steaks

YOU GET THAT???

[-none]

10. Don't forget those that can afford their yearly Caribbean cruses because they are on food stamps.

Those poor get all the breaks.
At least Kansas is trying to get ahead of this by making it illegal for food stamps recipients to act rich. [font color="red"]More [/font color]