With the talks underway regarding the budget debt crisis and the most vulerable programs at risk on the cutting table – this article from Time/CNN about U.S. dollars spent on the war in Afghanistan got my attention ~ Last Wednesday the Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction released a startling report …
The article is called “Afghan VIPs Steal $10 Million From You Every Day, in Cash”
“Afghan government VIPs stuff your tax dollars into suitcases and fly the money out of the Kabul airport to parts unknown, possibly at the rate of about $10 million bucks a day. That’s one of the startling conclusions in the latest report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction released on Wednesday.
It says that the United States has pumped more than $70 billion into development projects in Afghanistan since 2002. A lot of that is converted to cash. But the United States has ‘limited visibility over U.S. cash that enters the economy — leaving it vulnerable to fraud and diversion to the insurgency.’ In other words, Afghans are stealing our money or giving it to other Afghans …”
http://battleland.blogs.time.com/2011/07/21/afghan-vips-steal-10-million-from-you-ever-day-in-cash/
Here is another article to share for those interested that appeared yesterday about related activities in Afghanistan of U.S. funds ending up in the wrong hands including the Taliban … From the article – “$2.16 billion transportation contract was diverted through a murky network of subcontractors and into the hands of a group of Afghan power-brokers, criminals and Taliban insurgents..”
A Pentagon official tells news reporters that they were first alerted to the possibility of a scandal a year ago in June 2010 and since a Congressional inquiry has looked into the criminal dealings surrounding U.S. contracts … hummm ~
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-07-25/world/afghanistan.us.funds.taliban_1_source-task-force-trucking?_s=PM:WORLD
Hmmmm…….Now why am I not surprised to learn of this? 🙁 These are both great articles, Coralina. I didn’t know about either one of these situations. But, I am not surprised. I had heard about the Libya excursion costing $10 million a day. Obama was apparently in a bit of trouble over that one, as it was engaged in without congressional approval. But, the information in these two articles you have shared is just really disgusting. Here we are in the midst of a serious debt crisis that may well bring about tremendous financial damage to the country and every person in it, and this type of gross negligence is happening. I’d say our government should have pretty poor marks for financial management! Of course, they have some pretty poor marks for a number of other things, too! 😉