Washington, DC - Today, Congressman Bruce Braley (IA-01) released the following statement after the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction found serious problems with oversight of U.S. aid efforts and funds in Afghanistan in a new report:
"This report is very troubling and it underscores the need for us to get out of Afghanistan now. We're blindly spending billions in Afghanistan while our own economy is teetering between an anemic recovery and the brink of a default. I've called for a true accounting of the cost of the war in Afghanistan since I came to Congress. Now, after almost a decade in Afghanistan, thousands of lives lost and billions of dollars misspent, it's clear that the cost is too high. We need to end this quagmire immediately."
The report released today found that American funds in Afghanistan are likely to be misspent, embezzled and funneled to insurgents unless a far-reaching policy change is implemented.
"U.S. agencies...still have limited visibility over the circulation of these funds, leaving them vulnerable to fraud or diversion to insurgents. We found that agencies have not instituted sufficient controls over U.S. funds, limiting their oversight," the staff of acting Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction Herbert Richardson wrote in the report released on Wednesday. The U.S. has spent more than $70billion on security assistance and development projects in Afghanistan since 2002.
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