After troops leave, U.S. to lose access to Afghan reconstruction projects worth billions

[ourfuneral]

Source: The Washington Post

As coalition forces withdraw from Afghanistan, U.S.-funded reconstruction projects worth billions of dollars in far-flung regions of the country will soon be impossible for American officials to safely visit and directly inspect.

The planned removal of more than 40,000 troops and the closure of dozens of bases over the next year will shrink the protective umbrella for U.S. officials to keep tabs on construction work, training programs and other initiatives in the corruption-plagued nation. Only about 20 percent of the country will be accessible to U.S. civilian oversight personnel in 2014, according to an analysis conducted by the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction and obtained by The Washington Post.

Instead of curtailing those projects, the Pentagon, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development plan to rely on teams of private contractors to monitor the work of other private contractors on the taxpayer-funded projects. In a document soliciting firms to help with inspections, USAID said it also intends to use satellite photos and “crowdsourcing” experiments that will solicit feedback on progress from Afghans who are supposed to benefit from U.S.-financed work.

The inability of U.S. government personnel to inspect development projects is prompting worry among lawmakers and government inspectors that millions more dollars could be squandered in what has become the costliest reconstruction of a single country in American history.

“I would be shocked if this doesn’t have an unhappy ending,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who has been critical of reconstruction programs in Afghanistan and Iraq. “They are kissing oversight goodbye.”

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/after-troops-leave-us-to-lose-access-to-afghan-reconstruction-projects-worth-billions/2013/10/26/5a9212a6-3d9c-11e3-b6a9-da62c264f40e_story.html?hpid=z1

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The clusterfuck continues.

[hobbit709]

1. It was a boondoggle from the get go.

[newfie11]

2. +1

[Zorra]

15. Yes it was. nt

[SoapBox]

16. Ditto.

[Orsino]

3. "...worry among lawmakers...that millions more dollars could be squandered..."

Why is this suddenly worrying? Working as designed.

[L0oniX]

11. "...worry among lawmakers...that millions more dollars could be squandered..." on SS and Medicare.

[warrant46]

18. Thats for sure and when the Chained CPI gets going === Cat Food for Seniors

Thanks to the scum in Congress

Will be the Entre of the Day


http://www.aarp.org/politics-society/advocacy/info-02-2013/the-chained-consumer-price-index-explained.html

Bottom line: Cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security would be lower with the chained CPI than with the "plain" CPI

That's the Puke tradeoff to Keep the Military in steaks and the War going

[Hubert Flottz]

4. It's all about greasing the palms of the likes of

Halliburton and all the other military contractors. Also protecting American investor's holdings in that part of the world. And it's about big brother controlling that main Afghani money crop.

[Hubert Flottz]

5. "Only about 20 percent of the country will be accessible to U.S. civilian oversight personnel"

Why occupy the other 80% when the 20% covers all the investor's interests? Guard the two big Trans-Afghani pipelines and the opium fields and use taxpayer funded contractors. It's not cheaper by a long shot, but it's easier to sell the taxpayer what he of she knows very little, if anything, about.

[KG]

6. well the truth is out. Afghanistan had nothing to do with the WoT. it was a pork project for the MIC

[Owl]

7. What are these reconstruction projects?

[L0oniX]

10. They are not here ...that's apparent.

[vinny9698]

8. Youth Missionaries went to a Costa Rica villiage and built a basketball court, the CRs play soccer

The outdoor cement basketball court with bleachers isn't used because the Costa Ricans play soccer.

[L0oniX]

9. Ahh uhm Ok ...our troops are supporting corporations. YAwn ...already knew that long ago.

The other day I was hearing about a general over there saying how well the school system is doing due to the military. I could only think about the destruction of our own public school system here. WTF are we over there for? again?

[Ace Acme]

13. We're there to provide profit opportunities for the 1%.

What else is there?

[vinny9698]

12. You need high qualified technicians to run those projects, they do not want to live in 17th century

Engineers and technicians are not going to move there with their families to live in a 17 century environment.
Bad enough to go to work in the Dakotas with the fracking, can you imagine taking your family to the rural areas of Afghanistan.
They asked American born Afghans if they would go back to help their country? All declined, who wants to go there and risk your life and live in such backwards conditions.
\

[momrois]

14. What is the Post saying

When I read this article early this morning, all I could think of is that they are advocating for the military to stick around.

[BlueToTheBone]

17. Maybe we could spend that money here. n/t

[tabasco]

19. War profiteers made billions

Anything we built there is money down the toilet.

[Posteritatis]

20. That'll probably drop the costs of the projects from billions to millions. (nt)

[Link Speed]

21. Contractors monitoring contractors?

This will go over well, I'm sure.

[Brigid]

22. Yeah, what could go wrong?

[freshwest]

23. Let the United Nations handle it.