So, where’s the money going in Afghanistan?
The Associated Press reports that the Afghan government isn’t being cooperative while a watch dog agency is trying to track where the billions of dollars they get from the US gets to;
The U.S. and other nations have long expressed concern about the amount of cash being flown out of the country – an estimated $4.5 billion last year, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service. Afghanistan has a cash-based economy and moving large bundles of cash is common, yet it raises the risk of money laundering and cash smuggling to finance terrorist, narcotics and other illicit activities.
Personally, I’d check Karzai’s 401K. That’s why he’s not particularly worried about his own future, nor that of his country. He doesn’t plan on being there much more after the last US soldier leaves.
To help Afghanistan track the cash moving through the airport, the U.S. purchased $117,275 worth of bulk currency counting equipment. Though the contract to install them was awarded in July 2010, they were not put in until April 2011, the report said.
SIGAR staff made follow-up visits to the airport in September and November but never saw the cash counters being used. Moreover, the report said VIPs – some carrying cash – continue to bypass controls.
[…]
While they were plugged in and appeared to be in working order, they were not connected to the Internet or a computer server.
Is it any wonder that Karzai demanded that the US respect Afghanistan’s sovereignty the other day? Folks in Afghanistan should cease flights out of the country and cash shipments into the country until the Karzai government starts explaining some of this.
Category: Terror War
Hookers and Blow.
It’s just like America. People need help, so a government gives money to an agency that gives it to an organization that puts it in a fund… after each step has skimmed off a healthy bit for “administrative costs” and “operational expenses”.
This is something new?
What *DO* we keep giving other folks SO MUCH MONEY.
*Why*
Chip, that is the $64 billion question.
Is it any wonder so much of the world holds us in contempt? We throw money around, well, like a drunken sailor with no accountability. I’m sure a portion of it goes to the same extremists we fight. We have met the enemy and he is us.
This comes as no surprise. Neither would I be surprised at this point to hear the U.S. shipped over a currency printing press over there, just so the corrupt Afghan gov’t can print $100 dollar bills to line their pockets. My bet is that a bulk of the $$$ is finding it’s way into the hands of jihadists/Taliban. Just sayin’
all this while our own government cannot come up with two cents to properly help our veterans.
those turds over there don’t deserve one penny of ours