“Nobody’s Been Held Accountable” for Wasteful Spending in Afghanistan, says U.S. Watchdog - PBS

FRONTLINE - Afghanistan :  The war in Afghanistan marked a grim milestone this week — its 14th anniversary — making it America’s longest war by nearly half a decade. And it’s back in the spotlight for the wrong reasons: a resurgent Taliban seized a major Afghan city for the first time in 14 years in late September, and a U.S. airstrike coming to the aid of Afghan forces hit a hospital run by the aid group Doctors Without Borders, killing 22 patients and doctors, and leaving 24 missing and feared dead.

Afghan security forces have struggled to maintain any gains they’ve made in retaking the city of Kunduz, with territory changing hands daily. And with international aid organizations now gone from the city in the aftermath of the hospital bombing, civilians who are caught in the crossfire have nowhere to turn for help.

Meanwhile the U.S. reconstruction effort — which has cost taxpayers $110 billion since the war began — continues to be hampered by allegations of waste, fraud and mismanagement. In just one of the war’s numerous examples, a $500,000 training center for Afghan police began “melting” within four months of completion.

To take stock of the United States’ costly reconstruction efforts, FRONTLINE spoke recently with John Sopko, the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Since Sopko took the job in 2012, he and his team at SIGAR have called attention to repeated missteps in the reconstruction, leading to high-profile coverage of waste in Afghanistan, and fueling criticism for their aggressive approach from the departments they audit. Sopko now warns that the few gains the U.S. and its Afghan partners have made may be lost. -  Read More at PBS
“Nobody’s Been Held Accountable” for Wasteful Spending in Afghanistan, says U.S. Watchdog

A NATO airstrike kills 22 people at an MSF hospital as the US rethinks its military withdrawal from Afghanistan -  The World Weekly‎