US spends almost half a billion for Afghan planes and then sells them for scrap

So far only 16 of 20 Italian-made military transport planes bought by the U.S. for the Afghan Air Force (AAF) at a cost of almost $500 million have been sold for scrap at about six cents a pound.

The US government is investigating why millions were spent in this wasteful program. The exact cost was $486 million. However, when maintenance costs are included, the total cost was $596 million before officials simply decided to park the planes. In March 2013, the entire fleet had to be grounded because of "sustained, serious performance, maintenance, and spare parts problems" according to John Sopko who is the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction(SIGAR) head. The planes were purchased in 2008.
 With 16 of the planes sitting unused at Kabul International Airport, officials decided to sell them for scrap. SIGAR was intending to inspect the aircraft as part of their investigation into the affair but found that the 16 planes had already been sold for scrap. Sopko noted: “It has come to my attention that the sixteen G222s at Kabul were recently towed to the far side of the airport and scrapped by the Defense Logistics Agency. I was also informed that an Afghan construction company paid approximately 6 cents a pound for the scrapped planes, which came to a total of $32,000. I am concerned that the officials responsible for planning and executing the scrapping of the planes may not have considered other possible alternatives in order to salvage taxpayer dollars.” The remaining four G222s are parked at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany.
Sopko is concerned that US officials did not consider other options before they allowed the destruction of the planes for scrap. SIGAR wants advance notice from the Department of Defense if it is decided to destroy the other four planes. This debacle is just one of many as most US troops are packing up to leave Afghanistan. Officials must decide what is to be left and what is worth packing up and shipping to the US or elsewhere often at considerable expense.
An article in April of this year calculates that the US military will leave $6 billion worth of "stuff" in Afghanistan when most leave the end of this year. Included in the equipment are 850 MRAPS vehicles that are Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected(MRAP). These will be given away to any allied country willing to pay shipping costs or sold for scrap in Afghanistan. Figures provided to Fox News show the Defense Logistics Agency(DLA) Disposition Services sold a total of 34.7 million pounds of vehicles and equipment as scrap to local Afghan vendors. In the past 12 months, DLA sold 387 million pounds of scrap providing $46.5 million to the US Treasury in return.

Afghanistan: Tax dollars at work on the road to nowhere

    The national highway 1 is often touted as an example of how foreign aid has helped Afghanistan. The highway is fully 2,700 kilometers long and links major cities. It is largely bankrolled by Saudi and U.S. taxpayer money. However the UK Foreign Office (FCO) has questioned both the priority given to the project and the quality of construction..
  One problem is that the aid money is siphoned through officials and contractors and finally down to subcontractors. The pavement in many places is so thin that it is not expected to survive even one Afghan winter. The road is very expensive to maintain. Many complain that it is mostly used by foreign troops to get from one place to the next. The road is also a magnet for Taliban attacks
 The FCO report notes that the road is of no value to most Afghans. What would have impressed them would be upgrading of roads to the nearest towns upon which they  depend for supplies. The highway is just one of many white elephants resulting from foreign aid. The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction claims that Washington has failed to account for billions spent on projects.
  Among the projects were six Afghan National Police buildings so poorly made they could not be used. A Kabul Power plant costing 300 million of U.S. taxpayer funds encountered years of delays and cost increases and now that it is built is used only as an expensive backup facility! Meanwhile donor nations are busy pledging billions more to keep the corrupt system and government from falling to the Taliban! For more see this article.

World donors pledge 21 billion for Afghanistan.

This is just part of the article the rest is at the URL noted. About half the aid will be coming from the U.S. This is fitting since it was the US idea in the first place to invade and overthrow the government with the help of the Northern Alliance. Zalmay Khalilzad a Bush protege is already being groomed to run against Karzai so that a more reliable puppet will be installed. All the graft is not just going to Afghans but to foreign contractors and of course the AID is not provided free by the companies that provide the aid. They often make hefty profits. It is a make work and make money project for many foreign firms. If the last round of pledges is any indication many pledges will never be honored.

http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/385246

World donors pledge $21 billion for Afghanistan TheSpec.com - BreakingNews - World donors pledge $21 billion for Afghanistan TimeSincePublished("2008-06-12-13:46:46","2008-06-12","Jun. 12, 2008");-->
PARIS- World donors sought to bolster Afghanistan's fragile leadership Thursday with pledges of more than $21 billion in aid as the need to help secure and feed the country overshadowed concerns about pervasive corruption.The United States led the way, promising $10.2 billion.Donors pledged to co-ordinate their aid better than in the past, when billions poured into the country, often with little oversight. In a final statement, they also urged Afghan officials to tackle corruption.French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, in announcing the final sum, said the figure was beyond his dreams. It exceeds the $15 billion to $20 billion Afghan officials had hoped for."Afghanistan has reached a decisive moment for its future. We must not turn our back on this opportunity," first lady Laura Bush said.The new pledges are in addition to $25 billion pledged by the international community since 2002. However, only $15 billion- 60 per cent- of those previous pledges has been honoured so far.That's because it is almost impossible to police how and where the aid is spent.Security questions loom over every aid project since Karzai's western-backed administration has only a shaky grip on much of the country. The heroin trade is a key part of the economy, as is corruption.Most Afghans lack proper sanitation and 80 per cent have no electricity at home, despite $15 billion in international aid since the Taliban's ouster in 2001. Life expectancy remains under 50 years, and food shortages over the past year have pushed many Afghans to the brink.The Taliban still recruit in desperately poor rural areas, and their insurgency continues to claim lives more than six years after U.S.-led troops invaded following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks blamed on al-Qaida, whose militants the Taliban were sheltering.Afghanistan's still-tenuous security climate was highlighted by tensions over U.S. air strikes that may have killed friendly fighters in Pakistan along the Afghan border. The bombings Tuesday fuelled anti-U.S. sentiment in Pakistan, and could set back efforts to stem violence in the lawless region.Meanwhile, U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates was expected to push NATO allies meeting Thursday in Brussels to send more troops and police instructors to Afghanistan. NATO's mission in Afghanistan has more than doubled, to 51,000, over the past two years, but commanders say it still lacks units for critical tasks like air transport and intelligence.. The money is a mix of what Congress already has approved for this year and next, and what the administration is still seeking before it leaves office.Other major donors included the Asian Development Bank, $1.3 billion; the World Bank, $1.1 billion; Britain, $1.2 billion, and the European Union, $775 million.A similar donors' conference in 2006 garnered pledges of $10.5 billion.
http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/385246

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