The US spent $43 million in Afghanistan on the construction of a single gas station, a government comptroller reported on Monday.
Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko said that the natural gas filling station in Sheberghan, Afghanistan should have only cost the taxpayer about $500,000 to build.
“The main purpose of the project was to demonstrate the commercial viability of [compressed natural gas] for automobiles in Afghanistan as part of a broader effort to take advantage of Afghanistan’s domestic natural gas reserves and reduce the country’s reliance on energy imports,” SIGAR noted.
In an Oct. 22 letter to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter published Monday, Sopko said that the Pentagon wasn’t able to explain the boondoggle, and that its response was “one of the most troubling aspects of this project.” He noted that the filling station was part of an $800 million development project overseen by officials who reported directly to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and that the wider initiative was only shuttered about a half a year ago.
Defense officials had told SIGAR it no longer has experts able to answer questions about the so-called Task Force for Stability and Business Operations (TFBSO).
“Nevertheless, I intend to continue our inquiry into TFBSO activities to shed additional light on how this program operated, what it achieved, how this enormous amount of money was spent, and whether any conduct by TFBSO staff or contractors was criminal in nature,” Sopko noted.
He called the Pentagon’s response “both shocking and incredible.”
SIGAR also remarked that it had “no evidence” TFBSO carried out “a feasibility study” before going through with the gas station project.
“Afghanistan lacks the natural gas transmission and local distribution infrastructure necessary to support a viable market for CNG vehicles,” Sopko said. “Additionally, it appears that the cost of converting a car to run on CNG may be prohibitive for the average Afghan. TFBSO’s contractor, stated that conversion to CNG costs $700 per car in Afghanistan, where the average annual income is $690.”
The office of SIGAR broke other news last week, when it revealed in a quarterly report to Congress that a man at the heart of the largest corruption scheme in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban was released early from prison.
CEO of Kabul Bank, Khalil Ferozi, had been one of a handful of people convicted of embezzling $1 billion from the financial institution. The theft, which had, in part, helped finance pay-offs to the government of then-president, Hamid Karzai, nearly caused the collapse of the financial institution.
Ferozi “was reportedly released from prison this quarter at behest of high-ranking Afghan government officials after serving only a fraction of his 10-year sentence,” SIGAR noted in its regular update to Congress. “This was ostensibly done to enable him to more easily liquidate and transfer assets and properties to the government to help satisfy his debts.”
We discuss the Kabul Bank theft and other recent stories on this week’s episode of District Sentinel Radio.
