Opgør med 2 dystre kapitler i amerikansk bistandspolitik
The US government has wasted 30 billion US dollar (over 150 milliarder DKR) in contracts in Afghanistan and Iraq over the last decade, according to a bi-partisan spending commission, writes BBC online Monday.
The commission on wartime contracting blamed an over-reliance on contractors, poor planning and fraud (svindel) for the waste. It had evidence of lax accountability and inadequate competition, it said.
Writing in the Washington Post, the report’s authors warn that investments in the two countries could be wasted even after US involvement there ends.
Among the examples cited was a 40 million dollar prison for Iraq that the country did not want and was never completed. US-funded projects in those two countries also risk going to waste because host governments are unable or unwilling to sustain them.
In one case, 300 million dollar was poured into a sophisticated power plant in Kabul which the Afghan government will not be able to run, and a programme worth 11,4 billion of facilities for the Afghan national security forces is likely to be unsustainable.
Beyond just a disservice to taxpayers, the report says that the waste fosters corruption in host countries and diminishes the standing and influence of the US.
