The special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, John Sopko, released his quarterly report to Congress. According to Sopko’s investigation, the US has now spent more on the reconstruction of Afghanistan than it did on the Marshall Plan, which helped rebuild 16 European countries after the Second World War. Afghanistan’s nation-building has exceeded $104 billion, which surpasses the $103.4 billion current-dollar value of the Marshall Plan. While the Marshall Plan successfully lifted western Europe from the aftermath of the World War II, the same cannot be said of the US investment in Afghanistan, a country that continues to be defined by catastrophe.
American nation-building in Europe led to the development of outstanding infrastructure and the establishment of thriving economies. By contrast, empty buildings, a string of failed projects and a decrepit government are all that’s left of the billions of dollars sunk into Afghanistan. Most of the American investment was poured into beefing up the rag-tag Afghan security forces. We’re within months of the US withdrawal and the Afghan security forces investment is still backfiring. Just last week, a US major general was murdered by an Afghan soldier.
The US has spent $626 million to provide weapons and equipment to the Afghan forces, including 465,000 small arms. However, the US has failed to keep track and properly record the serial numbers of 43 per cent of this weaponry. Sopko has made it clear that undocumented American-supplied weapons are prevalent within Afghanistan. In an interview with Time magazine, he stated: “We’re not talking just handguns and M-16s and AK-47s … we’re talking some high-powered stuff — grenade launchers, RPGs, machine guns.”
Meanwhile, opium production is booming in Afghanistan and continues to grow. The US spent $7.6 billion on projects to counter opium cultivation, but production has charted upwards to new heights over the last three years. Most of the projects offered as alternatives to poppy crops were bizarre or not fully thought through. In one instance, $34.4 million was allotted for a soybean project despite evidence suggesting that the crop was “inappropriate for (climate) conditions and farming practices in Northern Afghanistan”.
Economic turmoil aside, allegations of corruption and fraud in the June elections have destroyed any prospects of a smooth political transition in Afghanistan. The outcome of the vote is dependent upon the result of the much-awaited UN audit of eight million votes. This delay complicates US withdrawal from the country as it is dependent upon the new president signing a bilateral security agreement. Without the agreement, no US troops will stay behind by the end of the year. Even with the agreement, only around 10,000 are expected to remain.
No respected authority on the region has illusions that the fighting will come to an end once the American troops exit. The US Congress has proven how quickly it can act when properly motivated, by passing a last-minute military aid bill for Israel. Aid to Afghanistan does not share near the same political support. A recently conducted poll indicated that 66 per cent of Americans think the war in Afghanistan has not been worth fighting. Americans also came out in record numbers to prevent President Barack Obama from entering Syria last year. How many times must history repeat itself before leaders of the Western world understand that a lasting solution to militancy requires a sustained dedication to correcting socioeconomic deficits, which allowed it to thrive in the first place?
Published in The Express Tribune, August 11th, 2014.
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@Rex Minor: Ah, so there were no political campaigning and democratic elections in Iraq that resulted in the current government and Prime Minister! Please inform your closest Iraqi consulate that their country was the victim of a mass hypnosis to fool them into believing that they voted!!! Again, any credible evidence that the afghan public yearns for that paradise under Taliban rule??
@Hassan Khattak: You will soon find which battle has been won and by whom
@Rex Minor: In case you missed it, the Iraqi people have democratically elected the current government on their own, with the winning groups choosing their own Prime Minister! As for Afghanistan, provide some credible references that the public there would want any part of "Freedom" under the Taliban!
The Sopko's report to the American congress may have some relevance for certain members in the congress who are good at counting wooden dollars. However, the report was definitely not meant to justify American presence in Afghanistan for over a decade, joining in the ranks of Nations whose blood is scattered around buried under the steppe of Afghanistan. The Opium was a good investment, two third of the production was sent for the American consumers.. The authors comparative analysis with the Marshal plan is not valid so are her comments about the American nation-building in Europe leading it to the development of outstanding infrastructure and the establishment of thriving economies Right would be to compare it with the adventure in Iraq, which has the Prime Minister choosen by the Americans who has managed to disfrenhise Sunni leadership in all Gvernment positions, and is now facing ISIS which is equiped with American supplied weaponry and has created a State from the territories of syria and Iraq. Aghanistan will most likely follow the same path towards freedom, the Talibans driving the American preferred President out of the country.
Rex minor.
How many times do liberals have to be reminded it's not the West responsibility to change the cultural and economic deficiencies of others. The West could spend half of their economies trying to correct/prop up the AfPaks of the World and wouldn't even get a thank you.
Marshall plan worked because Europeans were civilized and wanted to rebuild. Here we have uncivilized population a part of which wants live in early 1500 and a neighbor who is also of no help
@numbersnumbers: Also there was another neighbour that kept on supporting a group of corrupt war lords that have actually eaten away all this American investment in the last decade. At present there is one more distant neghbour that is also on its tit for tat policy interfering in Afghan matters by using its soil to export terror in to the same old neighbour that considered Afghanistan a Strategic depth. This distant neighbour i also a pain in sensitive parts of the Uncle Sam, who in the very begining, for the first time used Afghan soil to fight its war with the USSR. Uncle Sam rejovinated the Jihadi mentality in Afghanistan against the USSR you see. It turns out, everyone is playing a game of deadly musical chairs in Afghansitan. I hope Afghans learn a lesson from all this..
@It's (still) Economy Stupid: Here something for you to ponder.. "India's new government promised it would build more than five million new toilets within its first 100 days in office - the equivalent of constructing roughly one toilet every second."
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-28735449
Now thats Incredible.
Can you name any battle good Taliban has won against Afghan Army & police? karzai has strictly forced Afghan army not to use any NATO or Afghan air force. Being from Waziristan it does not suit you to belittle Afghan Army without stating facts. Weather you like it or not the world do not have choice other than strong Afghan army, police & air force. So please do not try to held the world hostage. West has done good job to build speedy Afghan army which is trusted by Afghan people. Better you do something for wazirstanis IDPs rather than cut & paste something on Afghanistan.
The comparison with the Marshall Plan is inappropriate. Europe (and Japan) were highly developed countries before WWII. It was easier for them to recover with US help. Afghanistan, on the other hand, was a poor and decentralized state. Three decades of war only exacerbated the problems there. What they need is a generation of peace and non-interference from its neighbors. US and international assistance have seen improvement in educational and health facilities, beginnings of a national army, development of infrastructure, rise of a fledgling middle class, entrepreneurship etc. Whether they are enough to stop the Taliban (and their sponsors) remains to be seen.
I suppose adjusting for inflation is not your forte? Whatever investments have occurred in Afghanistan are non of your business. You sound jealous. You concentrate on exporting terrorism.
The same data can be interpreted differently. It is cultural thing -western countries under Marshall Plan and Israel were able to make use of the helping hand and became world class countries. Whereas Muslim countries like Afghanistan with 106 billion dollar aids or Pakistan under the Coalition Support Fund squandered the aid rather than spend on nation building. The human development index between KSA and Israel is another example of cultural difference. Israel has living in Middle East comfortable for its citizen and made number of breakthroughs in the field of agriculture, environment and water conservation etc whereas life in KSA is still nomadic like it was 1400 years ago.
before leaders of the Western world understand that a lasting solution to militancy requires a sustained dedication to correcting socioeconomic deficits, To paraphrase Christine Fair keep giving money to Pakistan for Zarb-e-bakwas.
You somehow neglected to mention that the Marshall Plan succeeded in Europe because a decade long ongoing insurgency did not hinder economic development and reconstruction in European countries! In Afghanistan's case however, a "neighboring country" actively supported the Afghan Taliban/Good Taliban insurgents, purposely preventing most economic development from happening! This "Neighboring Country" even openly provide Safe Havens for all such "Good Taliban" groups to operate from inside their "Sovereign" Territory in a bid to secure Strategic Depth!!!!
Most of the American investment has gone right back to the American Military Industrial Complex and associated contractors. Please see the VICE report on wasteful expenditure by the US.
On the other hand, Indian investment in Afghanistan though a drop in the ocean has led to more tangible results for the Afghans including the Route 606 highway to Iran and the National Assembly building.