In a speech on Wednesday at the New American Foundation, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko revealed that he has been under pressure from officials across several departments for publicizing his audits on waste and fraud in the Afghan War.

Sopko, who has held the position of SIGAR since last summer, said it surprised him how many in the administration didn’t understand the role of an independent inspector general, and accused him of “embarrassing” the White House by doing his job.

He went on to say that officials had repeatedly demanded to “pre-screen” his reports before they were released, and that many wanted to edit them before they were made public, again totally negating the entire point of having an independent auditor in the first place.

While Sopko insisted the attitude was most prevalent among bureaucrats it went all the way to the top, and that a number of senior officials who “you think would know better” had also accused him of undermining the war. Antiwar


FACTS & FIGURES


SIGAR reports have shown massive waste in the 11+ year occupation, including contractor fraud and huge U.S.-built facilities for the Afghan military that they will never be able to keep running after the end of the war. Antiwar

A report from the SIGAR in January revealed that the United States spent over $6 million on maintaining vehicles that had already been destroyed in Afghanistan. Think Progress

In 2012, Sopko said "a significant portion" of the U.S. government's $400 million investment in large infrastructure projects in fiscal year 2011 alone might have been wasted because of the poor planning. BBC

In 2011, as much as $60 billion in U.S. funds had been lost to waste and fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Huffington Post

The U.S. debt continues to grow to unsustainable levels, while excessive spending on the war is wasted, lost, and detrimental to the security of the region. Antiwar

According to costofwar.com, the U.S. war in Afghanistan has cost American taxpayers nearly $630 billion so far.




AN/ISH