War spending is out of control and a cause for worry. We get weekly reports of the costs of the war and the burden placed on tax payers. This week the Washington Post reported that U.S. government agencies cannot account for spending in Afghanistan before 2007. This presents yet another point for citizens and the White House to rally behind as they call for an end to the war. What is more striking is the potential that the dollars designated for service and construction contracts could have provided financial support for the Taliban. The likelihood that the billions of dollars of contracts that were never realized ended up in the hands of Taliban militias is high considering the estimated numbers, since the actual numbers don’t exist.
In fall 2008, there was great uproar about the use of local security contractors in Afghanistan and their connection to the Taliban. In August of 2008 the Senate Armed Services Committee filed a congressional inquiry into the economic behavior of trucking contractors. The inquiry discovered that these contractors were paying millions to local warlords for security. These millions which were payed to contractors were flowing into the pockets of militia leaders, some who opposed coalition forces. However disturbing this may be, what is more startling is that the U.S. employed 26,000 Afghan security contractors alone in 2008. The Defense Contract Management Agency of the State Department vowed to increase auditors in the region, but this still will not account for the money spent in the first six years of the war.
General Patraeus spoke out publicly in September about the troubles of hiring too many subcontractors. He claimed that excessive subcontracting levels give criminals and insurgents more opportunities to divert money into their pockets. Patraeus expressed discontent with the rate of contracting and the complete lack of oversight mechanisms, claiming that such a situation fuels corruption and makes his job a lot harder.
This presents a problem that is hard to correct because it is nine years in the past, but it provides information as to the potential sources of Taliban funding. The major question is whether we can now trace the money that was designated after 2007 and find out where exactly that money is going. My best bet is the money trail disappears at the point of subcontractors considering the amount of unfinished projects.
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