Congress wants more scrutiny of U.S. spending in Afghanistan

[unhappycamper]

Congress wants more scrutiny of U.S. spending in Afghanistan
By Reid Davenport | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Thursday, July 15, 2010

WASHINGTON — Members of a House subcommittee drilled three U.S. agencies Thursday for not tracking billions in U.S. money invested in the rebuilding of Afghanistan since 2002.

After reports of more than $3 billion being smuggled out of Kabul's airport since 2007 and that Afghanistan ranks as the second-most corrupt country in the world, lawmakers demanded to know where their constituents' money is going.

To approve the pending appropriation of another $3.9 billion for Afghanistan now would "(undermine) our civil-military mission and our responsibility to ensure Americans' hard-earned tax dollars are not squandered or mismanaged," said Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., the chairwoman of the Appropriations State and Foreign Operations subcommittee.

Since 2002, the U.S. has spent over $51 billion on Afghan reconstruction, with $20 billion of that spent within the past two years.

Now, with watchdog reports on the inadequacies of Afghan forces and the benchmarks used to measure their progress, the committee established that it would not be a rubber stamp for more Afghan appropriations.