Endemic corruption, widespread insecurity, and a lack of accountability over on-budget assistance continue to make any investments made in Afghanistan vulnerable to waste, fraud and abuse
U.S. Loses $19 Billion in Afghanistan Reconstruction Funds to Fraud, Waste, Abuse
A staggering $19 billion spent by the U.S. government to reconstruct Afghanistan has been lost to fraud, waste, and abuse in the last decade and that only includes a portion of the money allocated by Congress for the cause. In 90% of the cases examined in a new federal audit, the money was blown “carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose.” This month the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) published a troubling report that analyzes less than half of the U.S. budget for the initiative, $63 billion in projects. As of December 2019, Congress has appropriated $134 billion for Afghanistan reconstruction, which began roughly a year after the U.S. invaded the Islamic nation to destroy Al-Qaeda and eradicate the Taliban.
