The Washington Post leads with an assessment of American "nation-building" in Afghanistan and heads the article with an expressive photograph of parachutes against morning sky. The parachutes look hopeful and utterly out of place. As indeed America appears to be in Afghanistan.
The hugely expensive U.S. attempt at nation-building in Afghanistan has had only limited success and may not survive an American withdrawal, according to the findings of a two-year congressional investigation to be released Wednesday. ...WaPo
Most of us don't need the Congressional report. Many Americans have known from the get-go that this concocted "other war" was a political choice, not a moral or humane choice. Thousands of Americans and Afghanis have paid for that war with their lives. Millions of Americans at home are paying with their homes and jobs for Bush's decision to invade and Obama's willingness to continue under the guise of "nation-building."
Someone makes out like a bandit -- for sure.
The report describes the use of aid money to stabilize areas the military has cleared of Taliban fighters — a key component of the administration’s counterinsurgency strategy — as a short-term fix that provides politically pleasing results. But it says that the enormous cash flows can overwhelm and distort local culture and economies, and that there is little evidence the positive results are sustainable.
One example cited in the report is the Performance-Based Governors Fund, which is authorized to distribute up to $100,000 a month in U.S. funds to individual provincial leaders for use on local expenses and development projects. In some provinces, it says, “this amount represents a tidal wave of funding” that local officials are incapable of “spending wisely.”
Because oversight is scanty, the report says, the fund encourages corruption.
Private contractors are the beneficiaries once again. The report "cites excessive use and poor oversight of contractors."
...Evidence of successful aid programs based on “counterinsurgency theories” is limited, the Senate committee report says. “Some research suggests the opposite, and development best practices question the efficacy of using aid as a stabilization tool over the long run.”
“The administration is understandably anxious for immediate results to demonstrate to Afghans and Americans alike that we are making progress,” the report says. “However, insecurity, abject poverty, weak indigenous capacity, and widespread corruption create challenges for spending money.”
