Roads, canals and schools built in Afghanistan as part of a special U.S. military program are crumbling under Afghan stewardship, despite new steps imposed over the past year to ensure reconstruction money is not being wasted, according to government reports and interviews with military and civilian personnel.
U.S. troops in Afghanistan have spent $2 billion in the past six years on 16,000 humanitarian projects through the Commander’s Emergency Response Program, which gives a battalion-level commander the power to treat aid dollars as ammunition.
A report slated for release this month reveals how quickly CERP projects can slide into neglect after being transferred to Afghan control. The Afghans had problems maintaining about half of the 69 projects reviewed in eastern Afghanistan’s Laghman province, according to an audit by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR .
Dilapidated projects could present a challenge to the U.S. strategy of shifting more responsibility to Afghans. Investing in infrastructure, notes President Barack Obama’s December review of the war, “will give the Afghan government and people the tools to build and sustain a future of stability.”
“Sustainment is one of the biggest issues with our whole strategy,” said a civilian official who shared details from a draft of the report. “The Afghans don’t have the money or capacity to sustain much.”
The official requested anonymity because the Defense Department is preparing a response to the audit.
Photos in the report show washed-out roads, with gashes and potholes where improvised explosive devices can be hidden. Among the projects profiled is a redredged canal that filled with silt a month after opening.
Multiple reports by the Government Accountability Office have noted the lack of monitoring by the Pentagon. And because formal U.S. oversight stops after a project is turned over to Afghans, it is hard to gauge how projects are maintained countrywide.
When asked whether the Afghans have trouble sustaining projects, the U.S. military responded with a statement saying it does not have the information to provide an immediate answer.
Top U.S. commander in Afghanistan Gen. David Petraeus said in Senate testimony last year that CERP is “the most responsive and effective means to address a local community’s needs.”
He previously relied on the discretionary fund as the commanding general in Iraq, where a total of $3.5 billion has been spent through the program. Over the past two years, Petraeus has pushed for stricter controls to stop possible fraud and waste.
In response to “insufficient management,” CERP guidance for Afghanistan was revised in December 2009, according to a statement by the military. The new guidance emphasizes the need to meet with Afghan leaders when choosing what to fund. It does not, however, require U.S. troops to continue inspecting projects after they are placed under Afghan control.
Under the guidance, an Afghan governor, mayor or bureaucrat must sign a letter promising to fund maintenance and operations.
But an October SIGAR audit of projects in Nangarhar province found that only two of the 15 files examined contained a signed letter. Nor is there formal reporting to the national or provincial Afghan governments of what was spent and built, the audit said. That makes it difficult for Afghans to know what they are supposed to maintain.
The provincial and district governments that take over the projects do not have the money to sustain them because they cannot collect taxes and must depend on the national government for funding, said Army Maj. David Kaczmarek, the civil affairs officer for Task Force Bastogne in eastern Afghanistan.
To teach the local governments how to request additional funds from Kabul, Kaczmarek helped launch a program this summer that uses CERP dollars for the operation and maintenance of some projects.
