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"Unflyable" Planes, Wrong Camouflage: How US Blew Billions In Afghanistan

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Broken-down G222 transport planes parked next to the runway at Kabul International Airport.
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The rapid collapse of Afghanistan's government to the Taliban fueled fears of a humanitarian disaster, sparked a political crisis for President Joe Biden and caused scenes of desperation at Kabul's airport. 
It's also raised questions about what happened to more than $1 trillion the U.S. spent trying to bring peace and stability to a country wracked by decades of war. 
While most of that money went to the U.S. military, billions of dollars got wasted along the way, in some cases aggravating efforts to build ties with the Afghan people Americans meant to be helping. 
A special watchdog set up by Congress spent the past 13 years documenting the successes and failures of America's efforts in Afghanistan. While wars are always wasteful, the misspent American funds stand out because the U.S. had 20 years to shift course. 
Here are 10 projects that the U.S. watchdog -- the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or Sigar -- identified as wasted effort:
$549 Million Planes Sold as Scrap
An effort to build up an Afghan air force included spending at least $549 million for 20 refurbished Italian-made G222 twin-turboprop aircraft. But 16 of the planes were left languishing in the weeds of Kabul's international airport after persistent maintenance issues made them unflyable. 
They were eventually sold as scrap for 6 cents a pound, or $32,000. The Justice Department in May 2020 told the watchdog that "it was not going to prosecute the criminal and civil cases related to the failed G222 aircraft program" so "as a result, no one will be held accountable." 
Road to Nowhere
The U.S. Agency for International Development spent $176 million to build a 101-kilometer (63 mile) road between Gardez city and Khost Province. Less than a month after it was finished, Sigar inspectors found that five segments were destroyed and portions of two other segments had washed away, according to an October 2016 audit.
Woodland Camouflage
The U.S. spent as much as $28 million buying uniforms for the Afghan military with camouflage patterns that didn't match the environment. But Pentagon officials said the design was chosen because Afghanistan's minister of defense at the time thought it looked good. 
"He liked the woodland, urban, and temperate patterns," according to a June 2017 assessment.
In a memo to the force that year, then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said "rather than minimize this report or excuse wasteful decisions, I expect all DOD organizations to use this error as a catalyst to bring to light wasteful practices."
'Melting Buildings'
The U.S. spent $500,000 with an Afghan contractor in May 2012 to construct a training range for the Afghan Special Police Training Center in Logar Province. It was designed to replicate a typical Afghan village and be used for conducting simulated search and clearance exercises. 
But inspectors found that water had begun penetrating the walls within four months of the U.S. taking control of the training range. Bricks used in the construction had too much sand, and too little clay, and began to erode. A January 2015 audit referred to the structures as "melting buildings."
War on Drugs
Afghanistan has long been the world's top producer of opium poppies. Besides its human toll, the Afghan drug trade was seen as undermining reconstruction and security goals by financing insurgent groups, fueling government corruption and eroding state legitimacy. 
Over a 15-year period, the U.S. spent about $8.6 billion on Afghan counternarcotics efforts. Still, by 2017, poppy cultivation and opium production reached record highs and "drug production and trafficking remain entrenched," Sigar wrote. 
Power Transmission Failure
Inspectors found that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers mismanaged a $116 million contract with an Afghan company to build a power station to provide electricity to more than one million Afghans. 
The mismanagement resulted in the U.S. spending almost $60 million on a project that wasn't operational "because land-acquisition and right-of-way issues have not been resolved, and there was no contract provision to permanently connect the system to a power source," Sigar reported in March 2018. 
Sigar auditors found the system might also be "structurally unsound and pose a risk" to Afghans who live near transmission towers and lines, or worked in a nearby substation.
Empty Headquarters
The U.S. military spent $36 million on a 64,000-square foot (5,950 square meter) command-and-control facility at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand Province that had a war room, a briefing theater and enough office space for 1,500 people. 
"It appears to be the best constructed building I have seen in my travels in Afghanistan," a Sigar inspector wrote in July 2013. "Unfortunately, it is unused, unoccupied, and presumably will never be used for its intended purpose." 
Hotel Shell
Sigar found "serious deficiencies in the management and oversight" of $85 million in loans made by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation for the construction of a 209-room hotel and adjacent 150-room Kabul Grand Residences apartment building, directly across from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. 
A November 2016 review found both the hotel and the apartment building were incomplete, abandoned empty shells, and both loans were in default. 
Unused Military Camp
The Pentagon spent $3.7 million to construct a camp near the Turkmenistan border for the Afghan National Army. Despite being partially ready for use at the time of the Sigar assessment in 2013, it remained unused with "all essential areas -- such as the administration building, latrines, and firing ranges -- empty." 
A Pentagon official told investigators the camp was not used because it lacked a dining facility.
Afghanistan's Military?
The U.S. spent about $83 billion over nearly 20 years trying to stand up a force that could fight the Taliban and guarantee Afghanistan's stability. But the Taliban rebuilt strength and the Afghan military collapsed in weeks as the U.S. pulled out. Even U.S. military leaders seemed stunned by the militants' advance. 
"There are not reports that I am aware of that predicted a security force of 300,000 would evaporate in 11 days," General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday. 
The U.S. shipped out hundreds of tons of equipment, but as they closed in on Kabul, Taliban fighters seized American-provided planes, helicopters, weapons and ammunition meant for the Afghan military. 
John Sopko, who oversaw the Sigar audits, was asked last month, before the Afghan collapse, whether the military spending was wasted. 
"That's a tough one and it's hard to say everything was wasted," Sopko replied. "And even though there are serious problems, and I have serious concerns and I think our military does and most observers have serious concerns, the story isn't over. The last act hasn't played. They could still turn it around." 
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/unflyable-planes-wrong-camouflage-how-us-blew-billions-in-afghanistan-2514589">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/unflyable-planes-wrong-camouflage-how-us-blew-billions-in-afghanistan-2514589</a>

news world "Unflyable" Planes, Wrong Camouflage: How US Blew Billions In Afghanistan

Broken-down G222 transport planes parked next to the runway at Kabul International Airport. The rapid collapse of Afghanistan's gove...

Sydney Extends Lockdown Until End-September As Delta Outbreak Worsens

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Sydney Extends Lockdown Until End-September As Delta Outbreak Worsens" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-08/kmb5prr_sydney-coronavirus-reuters_625x300_12_August_21.jpg" title="Sydney Extends Lockdown Until End-September As Delta Outbreak Worsens" /></div>
More than half of Australia's 26 million people are in lockdown, including in Melbourne. (File)
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Sydney's two-month long lockdown will be extended until at least the end of September and masks will need to be worn outside as the Covid-19 delta variant outbreak in Australia's most populous city worsens.
New South Wales recorded 642 new cases on Friday, Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters. From Monday, outdoor mask-wearing will be mandatory -- except when exercising -- in all regions throughout the state, she said. A curfew will be placed on areas of western Sydney hardest hit by the outbreak.
Another four people had died from the virus, the state government said.
"'We're asking everybody to go through a bit of pain in order to protect lives until we get those vaccination rates up," Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney on Friday. "There is no simple answer to delta -- short, sharp lockdowns don't always work."
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Berejiklian's announcement comes as the outbreak that started in Sydney continues to spread into other areas of the nation, which on Thursday recorded the highest daily tally since the pandemic began. More than half of Australia's 26 million people are in lockdown, including in Melbourne. Victoria state detected 55 cases of local transmission on Friday.
In New Zealand, authorities have linked Sydney's outbreak to at least 20 local cases. While the country's three-day lockdown was due to be lifted on Friday in most areas except in Auckland and the nearby Coromandel region, that plan looks in jeopardy amid media reports that the capital Wellington has now detected cases. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is due to hold a press conference at 3 p.m. local time.
The outbreaks are placing unprecedented pressure on the so-called Covid Zero strategy pursued by both Australia and New Zealand since the start of the pandemic. By closing borders and eliminating cases of community transmission leaking into their countries through strict lockdown measures, the nations have avoided the waves of deaths seen in most other countries.
'Be Straight With the Public'
Now, the highly-infectious nature of the delta variant of the coronavirus is starting to make some authorities' hopes of maintaining their Covid Zero status in the long term look unfeasible. Focus is instead turning on boosting tardy inoculation rates: Bloomberg's Vaccine Tracker shows Australia has provided both shots for just 22% of its population and New Zealand 19%, trailing most other developed nations.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been under increased pressure to ramp up the vaccination rollout, which has been hampered by supply delays. The message from his ruling coalition, along with Berejiklian's state government, has now turned to warning Australians that they will have to live with the delta variant indefinitely.
"People have to be straight with the public and tell them there are going to be more cases," Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said in a television interview on Friday. "There are going to be deaths. But we can't live in lockdown forever. That's our message."
Other state and territory leaders are warning that New South Wales shouldn't ease any restrictions while case numbers remain high, regardless of vaccination rates. That's expected to be a focus of a National Cabinet meeting hosted by Morrison later Friday.
Western Australia Premier Premier Mark McGowan -- perhaps the nation's strictest adherent to the zero-tolerance approach -- has said he's prepared to keep his state isolated from New South Wales regardless of vaccination rates in a bid to keep delta out.
--With assistance from Tim Smith.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/sydney-extends-lockdown-until-end-september-as-delta-outbreak-worsens-2514584">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/sydney-extends-lockdown-until-end-september-as-delta-outbreak-worsens-2514584</a>

news world Sydney Extends Lockdown Until End-September As Delta Outbreak Worsens

More than half of Australia's 26 million people are in lockdown, including in Melbourne. (File) Sydney's two-month long lockdown...

Over 18,000 Evacuated From Kabul Airport Since Taliban Takeover: NATO Official

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Over 18,000 Evacuated From Kabul Airport Since Taliban Takeover: NATO Official" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-08/0s5phq1_afghans-board-a-military-plane_625x300_20_August_21.jpeg?im=FaceCrop,algorithm=dnn,width=650,height=400" title="Over 18,000 Evacuated From Kabul Airport Since Taliban Takeover: NATO Official" /></div>
Spanish citizens residing in Afghanistan and Afghans board a military plane as part of their evacuation.
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Kabul [Afghanistan]:
More than 18,000 people have been evacuated from Kabul airport since the Taliban took over the Afghanistan capital, a NATO official told Reuters on Friday.
However, crowds continued to throng outside the airport, desperate to flee, said the official, who declined to be identified. The Taliban took over Kabul on Sunday.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/over-18-000-evacuated-from-kabul-airport-since-taliban-takeover-nato-official-2514575">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/over-18-000-evacuated-from-kabul-airport-since-taliban-takeover-nato-official-2514575</a>

news world Over 18,000 Evacuated From Kabul Airport Since Taliban Takeover: NATO Official

Spanish citizens residing in Afghanistan and Afghans board a military plane as part of their evacuation. Kabul [Afghanistan]: More than...

Locked-Up And Fed-Up: Australian Voters Put PM Scott Morrison On Notice

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Locked-Up And Fed-Up: Australian Voters Put PM Scott Morrison On Notice" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-08/s6nit4p_scott-morrison-650_625x300_20_August_21.jpeg?im=FaceCrop,algorithm=dnn,width=650,height=400" title="Locked-Up And Fed-Up: Australian Voters Put PM Scott Morrison On Notice" /></div>
Kathy Chalker, a Sydney art studio owner has already decided to vote Scott Morrison out.
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Sydney:
Kathy Chalker, a Sydney art studio owner, is just the sort of voter Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison needs to win the country's next election - a long-time conservative party supporter with a small business in a swing seat.
But Chalker has already decided to vote Morrison out.
With her business closed indefinitely under a COVID-19 lockdown in Australia's biggest city, Chalker blames Morrison's government for what she sees as the blundering management of a vaccine rollout that is behind almost every other developed nation.
"Why weren't they prepared? We were all watching this happening around the world - it's pure incompetence," Chalker told Reuters from her home in Sydney's western suburbs, the epicentre of a COVID-19 outbreak that is the country's worst since the pandemic began.
Chalker is not alone in her sentiments. On current polling, Morrison's Liberal Party-led Coalition would likely lose its thin majority in the country's 151-seat parliament at an election that must be held by the middle of next year.
Australia's exposure to the coronavirus pandemic remains small compared to many other developed nations, with a total of just over 41,400 cases and 971 deaths, and for several months it appeared to be emerging from the crisis. But the fast-moving Delta variant has exposed a major weakness; the country's slow-moving vaccine programme.
"The problem is Morrison set expectations so high," said John Hewson, a former Liberal Party leader. "Australia was riding high with few if any cases, and now he has to manage these lows."
The country recorded 754 cases on Thursday, the highest single-day increase, since the previous peak a year ago. The bulk of those were in Sydney's west, which includes the federal electorate of Lindsay, where Chalker lives and works.
Sydney's west is home to around 2.5 million people and represents the country's third largest economy after Sydney's central business district and the city of Melbourne.
Anger is growing in the region that a two-month lockdown does not appear to have curbed the Delta outbreak, but has severely impacted local businesses.
Chalker voted for the Liberal Party at the 2019 election but believes they have overlooked small businesses during the current lockdown.
"My whole family feel the same way. I have adult sons and they are saying, 'Yep, we'll vote for what you need mum'."
With more than half Australia's population of 25 million living under some form of lockdown, economists say the national economy is now at risk of falling into its second recession in as many years.
Residents in Lindsay and surrounding electorates are subject to the most stringent measures in the country, with most confined to their homes except for exercise and buying essential supplies.
"The people here are the engine of Australia; they need to be working, many live hand-to-mouth," said Jody Reeves, another Lindsay resident, who describes herself as a swing voter.
"Morrison is going to need a strong advertising campaign to make us forget, but I'll be here to remind everyone what went wrong."
VACCINE FALLOUT
While Australia's policy responses to the pandemic are a mix of state and federal responsibility, Morrison's government has taken much of the blame as the organizer of the national vaccine programme.
Just 30% of people aged 16 and over have been fully vaccinated after a big push in recent weeks to improve take-up.
The delays were partly due to changed health advice over the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was to be the backbone of the country's immunisation programme, due to rare cases of blood clots among some recipients. Australia has since scrambled to boost its supplies of Pfizer Inc's vaccine and reversed some advice on AstraZeneca.
Representatives for Morrison and the office of Liberal MP Melissa McIntosh, who represents Lindsay, did not respond to questions.
Morrison has said that government measures have kept people in jobs and businesses afloat and have helped Australia avoid the fatalities suffered elsewhere.
Under Australian rules, the government must call and hold an election by May next year. It is widely assumed it will be done so as late as possible to allow the vaccination programme to advance, and travel reinstated, lifting the public mood.
In doing so, Morrison will hope to retain the support that propelled him to a poll-defying victory in 2019.
Morrison carved out a narrow path to victory at that election via marginal seats in Queensland and Western Australia - where mining and farming are dominant industries - along with snatching Lindsay from the opposition Labor Party.
Labor enjoys strong support in Victoria, Australia's second most populous state, and could return to power for the first time since 2013 should it win some of those marginal contests, with Lindsay firmly in sight.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/locked-up-and-fed-up-australian-voters-put-pm-scott-morrison-on-notice-2514562">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/locked-up-and-fed-up-australian-voters-put-pm-scott-morrison-on-notice-2514562</a>

news world Locked-Up And Fed-Up: Australian Voters Put PM Scott Morrison On Notice

Kathy Chalker, a Sydney art studio owner has already decided to vote Scott Morrison out. Sydney: Kathy Chalker, a Sydney art studio own...

Sydney Extends Covid Lockdown Until September-End

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Sydney Extends Covid Lockdown Until September-End" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-08/hcajnj8_sydney-650_625x300_20_August_21.jpeg?im=FaceCrop,algorithm=dnn,width=650,height=400" title="Sydney Extends Covid Lockdown Until September-End" /></div>
Police officers patrol the quiet city centre during a lockdown to curb the spread of Covid.
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Sydney:
Australian authorities on Friday extended a COVID-19 lockdown in Sydney until the end of September and introduced a night curfew in the city's worst-affected suburbs, after nearly two months of curbs failed to contain an outbreak of the Delta variant.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian also announced the city's 5 million residents must wear a mask as soon as they step outside their homes, except when exercising which has been limited to an hour a day.
Berejiklian said she had been forced to impose tougher restrictions because of both an escalation in the number of COVID-19 cases and the fact that some people continued to flout lockdown rules.
"I asked health and police to work together, to give me a final list of what we can throw at this, to leave no shadow of a doubt as to how serious we are about getting the rate of growth down, the case numbers down," Berejiklian said in a televised media conference.
Berejiklian reported 644 new infections on Friday, most of them in Sydney, down from a record 681 hit a day earlier. Daily cases have topped 400 for the past seven days. Four new deaths were announced, taking the total number of deaths in the latest outbreak to 65.
Australia, which has successfully suppressed the virus for most of the pandemic, is struggling to contain the Delta outbreak, a sharp turnaround for a country which had experienced only sporadic flare-ups for several months this year.
In the 12 local council areas at the epicentre of Sydney's outbreak, a curfew will be in place from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. from Monday.
Police has been given sweeping new powers to ensure compliance with lockdown measures across the city, which have been in place since June 26, and limit the movement of people.
"If someone enters a (local government area) of concern without excuse, not only will they be fined, they will be sent home and they will have to self isolate for 14 days," New South Wales state Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said.
Despite a third wave of infections from the Delta variant, which has thrown more than half of the country's 25 million population under strict stay-at-home orders, Australia's COVID-19 numbers are relatively low, with some 42,100 cases and 975 deaths.
But a slow national vaccination programme, with only about 28% of people above 16 fully vaccinated, has left the country vulnerable to more deaths and hospitalisations.
With the outbreak showing no signs of abating, many economists predict the curbs will push the country's A$2 trillion ($1.5 trillion) economy into its second recession in as many years.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/sydney-extends-covid-lockdown-until-september-end-2514560">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/sydney-extends-covid-lockdown-until-september-end-2514560</a>

news world Sydney Extends Covid Lockdown Until September-End

Police officers patrol the quiet city centre during a lockdown to curb the spread of Covid. Sydney: Australian authorities on Friday ex...

Video Shows Angry French Shoppers Being Blocked From Entering Supermarket Because They Don’t Have COVID Passports

A British man in Singapore was handed a 6 week jail sentence for not wearing a face mask while a judge also ordered the man to undergo a “psychiatric assessment” because he argued against the efficacy of face coverings in court.
40-year-old Benjamin Glynn was arrested after footage of him not wearing a face mask on a train in May went viral online.
“According to reports, Glynn delivered a rant in court – in which he described the proceedings as “preposterous” and “disgusting” – and said masks were not effective in preventing the spread of Covid,” reports <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/aug/19/coronavirus-live-news-japan-reports-record-cases-ahead-of-paralympics-new-zealand-cluster-grows?CMP=share_btn_tw&page=with:block-611e05bd8f0865f6db8613b9#block-611e05bd8f0865f6db8613b9">the Guardian</a>.
This outburst prompted the judge to order the man to undergo a psychiatric assessment before the case could continue.
Glynn was subsequently convicted for violating COVID rules, his behavior towards the police who arrested him and “causing a public nuisance.”
Having already served two thirds of his sentence, Glynn was set free but then immediately deported.
As we have previously <a href="https://summit.news/2021/07/19/government-advisor-admits-masks-are-purely-comfort-blankets-that-do-virtually-nothing/">highlighted</a>, there is no evidence that face masks provide substantial protection against catching or spreading the virus.
A peer reviewed study involving 6,000 participants in Denmark revealed that “there was no statistically significant difference between those who wore masks and those who did not when it came to being infected by Covid-19,” the Spectator <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/do-masks-stop-the-spread-of-covid-19-">reported</a>.
As we previously highlighted, Dr Colin Axon, a SAGE advisor for the UK government, dismissed face masks as “comfort blankets” that do virtually nothing, noting that the COVID-19 virus particle is up to 5,000 times smaller than the holes in the mask.
“The small sizes are not easily understood but an imperfect analogy would be to imagine marbles fired at builders’ scaffolding, some might hit a pole and rebound, but obviously most will fly through,” Axon said.
Even Dr. Anthony Fauci <a href="https://summit.news/2021/06/02/in-february-2020-email-fauci-wrote-face-masks-not-effective-in-keeping-out-virus/">admitted</a> that masks were pointless at the start of the pandemic, when he wrote that a typical store-bought face mask “is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through material.”
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source <a href="https://summit.news/2021/08/19/video-shows-angry-french-shoppers-being-blocked-from-entering-supermarket-because-they-dont-have-covid-passports/">https://summit.news/2021/08/19/video-shows-angry-french-shoppers-being-blocked-from-entering-supermarket-because-they-dont-have-covid-passports/</a>

revolution summit Video Shows Angry French Shoppers Being Blocked From Entering Supermarket Because They Don’t Have COVID Passports

A British man in Singapore was handed a 6 week jail sentence for not wearing a face mask while a judge also ordered the man to undergo a “ps...