By one estimate, it’s one of the best constructed facilities in Afghanistan, but soon the $34 million military center in Hemland province could be torn down because, well, it turns out troops are leaving and the U.S. government might not have really needed the building in the first place. Special Office of Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko outlined the scope and history of the expensive problem in a letter this week to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, which you can read about here. But for a virtual tour of the building’s clean, spacious and barren offices and meeting…
Browsing: Afghanistan
Security measures intended to prevent the placement of roadside bombs on a major highway in Afghanistan were improperly installed, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said in a safety alert last week. The “culvert denial systems” were designed to prevent insurgents from placing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in roadway culverts, according to the alert, which was sent to the commanders of the U.S. Central Command and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan. “Through our preliminary investigative work, we estimate that a large number of culvert denial systems might have been falsely reported by Afghan contractors as complete when, in fact, the denial systems…
After pushing the Air Force last year to recoup $4.3 million spent on repairs caused by poor contractor work, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is now proposing that all agencies explain why they decide not to take action against poorly performing contractors in Afghanistan. The bill, S. 3505, would require agencies to explain to Congress why they do not act on recommendations by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) to recoup money from poorly performing contractors, when the SIGAR’s recommendations would result in at least $500,000 in savings. The bill would cover instances when the agency fails to respond, disagrees with the SIGAR or only accepts part of the SIGAR’s…
Three years ago, the Defense Department set up a Civilian Expeditionary Workforce policy to help manage how it deploys civilians to war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan. But the Government Accountability Office said today that the CEW concept is still a long way from what the Pentagon envisioned. CEW was meant to create a cadre of Defense civilians with crucial skills that are willing, ready and trained to go to war and help support combat troops — quickly. CEW has had some success, GAO said, most notably by creating a database of thousands of resumes from volunteers and filling…
This one falls in the “laugh so you don’t cry” category. The Afghan government and NATO has been negotiating for months with someone they thought was Taliban second-in-command Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, hoping to find a way to end the nine-year war. But it turns out — whoops! — this supposed militia leader was an imposter. In reality, he was just a shopkeeper from Quetta, Pakistan, who was running a scam. And according to the New York Times, it worked: “It’s not him,” said a Western diplomat in Kabul intimately involved in the discussions. “And we gave him a lot…
Know a GI in Iraq or Afghanistan who’s hurting for a smoke? Beginning Aug. 27, the U.S. Postal Service will once again allow customers to mail cigarettes and other tobacco products abroad to soldiers, Marines and other service members. The Associated Press reports that after a law kicked in June 29 that sought to keep minors from ordering cigarettes, the Postal Service originally only allowed care packages with tobacco to be mailed via Express Mail. The problem was, Express Mail can’t be sent to some overseas locations like Iraq and Afghanistan, leaving soldiers out of luck. But in two weeks,…
Six suicide bombers stormed a US Agency for International Development compound in Northern Afghanistan this morning, the Associated Press reports. The bombers killed at least four other people, including at least two non-Afghans, and wounded several other people.The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. There’s no indication yet that any of the dead are federal employees, but the attack is another reminder of the extraordinary challenges and dangers deployed civilians face.
A suicide bomber killed eight Americans yesterday at a CIA base in Eastern Afghanistan. The Washington Post reports that most — if not all — of the victims were CIA employees or contractors. At least one Afghan also was killed, the Post said. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack in Khost, near the Pakistan border. The Post said the bombing is “believed to be the deadliest single attack on U.S. intelligence personnel in the eight-year-long war and one of the deadliest in the agency’s history.” In 1983, eight CIA officers were killed in a devastating truck bombing of…
Two White House officials held a conference call for reporters this afternoon to preview the president’s Afghanistan strategy speech tonight. (It was on background, so we’re not allowed to say who they were — frustrating, but those were the rules.) Most of it was focused on the military aspects of Obama’s new strategy, but the officials also said Obama will spend some time in tonight’s speech talking about the civilian role in Afghanistan: The president will announce how we’re sending additional civilian experts to Afghanistan to team up with military units. […] Their approach has to go well beyond Kabul.…
The Washington Post says President Barack Obama is planning to deploy hundreds of diplomats and other federal employees to Afghanistan as part of a major effort to bolster reconstruction efforts in the war-torn country. The Post reports that aside from senior State Department diplomats, “other civilian officials are to be drawn from government departments such as Agriculture and Justice, and hundreds of new ‘full-time, temporary’ positions are planned” under a new strategy expected to be approved next week. During last year’s presidential campaign, Obama promised to refocus U.S. attention on Afghanistan, where the Taliban is regaining strength and Afghan president…