The U.S. military has wasted more than $40 million constructing buildings in Afghanistan that were not necessary, according to the government watchdog assigned to that country.

The latest wasteful spending was in Kandahar, where the military had ordered a headquarters for a Special Forces base, Camp Brown, John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), reported.

The project began in 2012 with the hiring of an Afghan company to build a $5 million, two-story structure. It was supposed to be completed by July 2013. But the contractor, Road and Roof Construction Company, fell almost a year behind schedule. By then, the building was no longer needed. Six months later, the military canceled the project, which had already used up $2.2 million in taxpayer money. The building now sits half completed, with no stairs to the second floor, electrical wiring or plumbing, SIGAR said.

And U.S. taxpayers might be on the hook for more money for this building. The Army Corps of Engineers is negotiating a settlement with the contractor. Since there was no fraud involved, the federal government might be on the hook for the balance of the contract, according to ProPublica.

Before SIGAR found this waste, it uncovered a $25 million headquarters in Helmand that three generals said was unnecessary, but was built anyway and never used. SIGAR also discovered a warehouse in Kandahar that cost $14.7 million to build, and was never used.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Taxpayers Fund Yet another Unneeded Building in Afghanistan (by Megan McCloskey, ProPublica)

Letter to Defense Officials on Afghanistan Command Facility Spending Waste (John Sopko, SIGAR) (pdf)

More U.S. Money to Burn in Afghanistan, This Time Millions on Faulty Incinerators (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

U.S. Military Builds $34-Million High-Tech Operations Complex in Afghanistan…and Will Never Use It (by Noel Brinkerhoff and Danny Biederman, AllGov)

Billions Wasted on Unsustainable Projects in Iraq and Afghanistan (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov)