Staggering Toll of US Failure in Afghanistan on Taxpayers is Laid Bare by Government Auditor

[C0RI0LANUS]

(Map: USCENTCOM)

FTA:

The US failure in Afghanistan was caused by a system that rewarded generals, diplomats, contractors, and policymakers who reported successes on the ground, rather than the grim reality of a bloody insurgency.

The result, said one US military adviser, was that the system “became a self-licking ice cream” as more money was committed to justify the billions already spent.

Soldiers bear the remains of US Army SPC Michael A. Dahl, Jr., of Moreno Valley, CA from a transport plane at Dover Air Base, DE, 19 Oct 2009. (Photo: Cliff Owen / AP)

The report which will be released imminently will reveal that experts and government officials now believe decisions made as early as 2002 meant the war was doomed to failure.

The SIGAR report will highlight how American ignorance of Afghan culture, the impact of local corruption, and weak cooperation among US agencies have all contributed to a war effort that has returned the country to the Taliban, at the cost of more than 2,400 American lives and $2 trillion.

The 1971 Pentagon Papers (linked below) regarding US involvement in Vietnam is quite similar in analysis.


US servicemembers coming home from Vietnam in 1965. (Photo: Harry Groom / Newsweek)


Sources:

https://nybreaking.com/the-staggering-toll-us-failure-in-afghanistan-had-on-taxpayers-is-laid-bare-by-government-auditor/

https://www.sigar.mil/

https://www.archives.gov/research/pentagon-papers

[erronis]

1. This is a mash-up of a couple of different but also disastrous interventions and outcomes.

The Sopko NYBreaking link looks good. I'm hoping someone can post the NYTimes article/link here.

The SIGAR link might better be this one: https://www.sigar.mil/Portals/147/Files/Reports/Audits-and-Inspections/Financial-Audits/SIGAR-25-10-FA.pdf

Altho there may be more coming.

[C0RI0LANUS]

3. SIGAR's latest quarterly report is Oct 2024. The final report is due any day now.

Do you mean this NYT report, erronis?

Original:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/24/world/asia/afghanistan-taliban-us-militias.html

Archived link:

https://archive.ph/LRy9p

There is also this from WaPo in 2019:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-confidential-documents/

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Didn't we learn anything from Soviet failures in Afghanistan?

Or didn't we rebuild the country when they left? I've seen both arguments. Don't know.

[C0RI0LANUS]

4. The USIC and military leaned that arming guerillas (the Taliban) against the Soviets worked.

Relatively inexpensive Stingers shot down expensive Soviet aircraft from 1980 to 1989.

But the US taking over Afghanistan (and Iraq) was all about lucrative reconstruction contracts and opportunities for generals to pin on another star. Hence we see the SIGIR.mil and SIGAR.mil reports on fraud, waste, and abuse.

Peacetime armies do not promote nearly as much as wartime militaries nor does peace provide opportunities for awards and medals.





The head of Switzerland's army: Corps Commander Thomas Süssli — © DDPS/DDPS