The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) says that 91 percent of aid provided to 60 audited projects had been wasted or misallocated.
“In 2021, SIGAR audited a sample of 60 US infrastructure projects in Afghanistan, and it found that $723.8 million, or 91 percent, had gone toward assets that were unused or abandoned, were not used as intended, had deteriorated, were destroyed, or some combination of the above,” SIGAR said in a recent report.
Economic experts said administrative corruption in the former government was the main reason for the waste of foreign countries’ investment in Afghanistan.
SIGAR said that the reconstruction projects were not properly completed.
“The projects supported by the international community’s aid were not completed properly. The projects were involved in corruption and these projects didn’t add to any permanent infrastructure,” said Sayed Hakim Kamal, a political analyst. “The contracts for these projects were a mistake.”
SIGAR has previously expressed concerns over the existence of high-level of corruption in the former Afghan government’s institutions.
