{"id":10112,"date":"2025-12-05T15:45:38","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T16:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.globaltalenthq.com\/?p=10112"},"modified":"2025-12-08T18:42:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T18:42:14","slug":"us-waste-in-afghanistan-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.globaltalenthq.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/us-waste-in-afghanistan-revealed\/","title":{"rendered":"US waste in Afghanistan revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"
Up to $29 billion was lost to fraud and mismanagement, an investigation has found<\/strong><\/p>\n The US lost up to $29 billion to mismanagement and misconduct during its occupation of Afghanistan, all while pursuing unrealistic goals in the country, according to a new report from a government watchdog.<\/p>\n Released on Wednesday, the report concludes a 17-year investigation by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which identified 1,327 instances of waste, fraud, and abuse totaling $26-29.2 billion, most of it lost through inefficiencies and improper use of assets. Fraud accounted for around 2% of the total and abuse for 4%. The watchdog noted that more than $4.6 billion of taxpayer money could have been saved.<\/p>\n America’s “20-year mission to build a stable, democratic”<\/em> Afghanistan was a failure, undermined from the start by unrealistic expectations and compounded by corruption and misuse of public funds, SIGAR said. According to the watchdog, Afghanistan should serve as a cautionary tale, warning policymakers that any future reconstruction effort of similar scale must acknowledge the risk of failure from the start.<\/p>\n \n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The US invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 after the September 11 attacks, for which Washington identified Al-Qaeda as being responsible. The group’s leaders, including Osama bin Laden, were based in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Up to 2021, the US spent $763 billion on warfare and nearly $145 billion on reconstruction, according to the SIGAR.<\/p>\n US forces withdrew hastily in July 2021, a month before the Taliban recaptured Kabul, ousting the Western-backed government. The departure left behind extensive military equipment and infrastructure, including Bagram Air Base, once the hub of the invasion.<\/p>\n