We cannot understand why this is allowed to continue. With all the US domestic turmoil and financial stress wouldn't a few billion kept back home make a positive impact? We are (temporarily) at a loss for words. We shall certainly find some soon.
"The persistent delays in instituting basic anti-money laundering procedures by the Afghan government at Kabul International Airport are deeply troubling," the report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said. "Although proper controls to monitor cash flows are important for any country to institute, they are particularly critical for a country fraught with corruption, narcotics trafficking and insurgent activity."
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.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_AFGHAN_CASH_SMUGGLING?SITE=VANOV&;SECTION=INTERNATIONAL&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
He particularly criticized the military contracting process, saying, “The bulk of the money actually spent inside Afghanistan went through poorly supervised military contracts and through aid projects where the emphasis was speed, projected starts, and measuring progress in terms of spending rather than results.”
That process led to what Karzai is complaining about now — as Cordesman did two years ago. “U.S. and foreign contractors poured money into a limited number of Afghan powerbrokers who set up companies that were corrupt and did not perform. . . . In many cases, they also paid off insurgents to let them operate,” Cordesman wrote.
He suggested that the government “tightly control the influx of outside money, limit its flow to honest and capable Afghans at every level of government, and provide the transparency to allow Afghans to see how honestly and effectively the money is used.”
