It’s bad enough when foreign aid dollars headed for a war zone are siphoned off by government insiders and their wealthy friends before reaching the impoverished people it is meant for. But it’s doubly frustrating when it ends up in the hands of the enemy.

  

A scathing report issued this week by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction indicated much of the U.S. assistance has been misspent, embezzled or indirectly given to militants, due to weak oversight on the part of the U.S. and corruption at the hands of Afghan officials.

 

Since 2002, Washington has funneled more than $70 billion for security assistance and development projects in Afghanistan, with more on the way as President Barack Obama intends to continue sending financial assistance even after American troops pull out in 2014.

 

While American officials have tried to get President Hamid Karzai to clean up his regime, Afghan leaders have responded by blaming the U.S. for allowing billions of dollars to be flown out of the country. “We strongly believe that the bulk of this money is from the huge contracts that our international partners have given out directly to big companies, particularly private security companies, without any involvement from the Afghan government,” Afghan Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal told the media last fall.

 

While the report pointed a finger at both the U.S. and Afghan culpability, it noted that, “The United States is unable to record information on these funds when they enter Afghanistan’s economy, and the Afghan and U.S. governments are unable to track these funds as they move from person to person.”

 

The report also said the U.S. allowed contractors to pay their Afghan partners through unlicensed wire-transfer companies, which often obscured who really received the money.   

 

The Washington Post reported earlier this year that it’s not uncommon to see large bundles of cash being loaded at the Kabul airport, and all within sight of customs officials, for planes headed to Dubai, where many wealthy Afghans live and bank.

 

Perhaps the biggest impediment to the U.S. keeping track of where its aid money goes is the lousy relationship we have with our Afghan ally. As the report made clear in its introduction:

 

“Because of disagreements between the U.S. and Afghan governments, the Afghan government has banned U.S. government advisors from working at DAB [Afghanistan’s central bank]. Without full cooperation from the Afghan government, U.S. financial sector development efforts are limited.”

 

Some might say hopeless.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Watchdog Says U.S. Aid Money in Afghanistan May Be Fueling Insurgency (by Yochi J. Dreazen, National Journal)

Limited Interagency Coordination and Insufficient Controls over U.S. Funds in Afghanistan Hamper U.S. Efforts to Develop the Afghan Financial Sector and Safeguard U.S. Cash (Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction) (pdf)

Officials Puzzle over Millions of Dollars Leaving Afghanistan by Plane for Dubai (by Andrew Higgins, Washington Post)

Billions in Cash Shipped out of Afghanistan (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)