US Wastes $249Mln on Failed 12-Year Afghan Road Project – Inspector General

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sigar

WASHINGTON, June 20 (Sputnik) – The US government has spent at least $249 million over the past dozen years on an Afghan road project that is only 15 percent complete and more money is expected to be wasted going forward, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said in a new report on Wednesday.

“A lack of security, indeed insurgent control, along the majority of the 233-kilometer stretch was a major factor that resulted in a waste of between $249 million and $283 million over a 12-year period,” the report said.

Since the start of the road project at least 19 workers have been abducted and one was killed, the report noted.

The report said the construction of the 233-kilometer section of the Afghan Ring Road from Qeysar to Laman utilizing Asian Development Bank (ADB) grants was funded by the United States and other ADB members.

Between 2005 and 2017, the ADB committed $721 million across five separate grants to the Afghan government to complete the road section, the report explained.

However, as of September 2017, only 15 percent of the project was completed.

Meanwhile, the ADB and the Afghan Ministry of Public Works had spent $249 million on the road construction, the report said.

SIGAR listed the security challenges, poor contractor performance and a lack of capacity within the Afghan ministry to manage large construction contracts as reasons for the project’s failure.

“While we hope for success – for the Afghan people that the project may ultimately benefit and for the US taxpayers whose money is being used, in part, to fund the effort – we are left without any indication that the circumstances have improved sufficiently to warrant a high degree of confidence that the project will be completed, that more money will not be wasted, or that more security incidents will not occur,” the report concluded.

The Ring Road is intended to be a continuous highway that connects Afghanistan’s four major cities – Kabul, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif and Kandahar.

US Claims About Russia Supporting Taliban in Afghanistan Groundless – Moscow

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Maria Zakharova

Maria Zakharova

SAMARA, June 20 (Sputnik) – The US claims that Russia allegedly supports the Taliban movement in Afghanistan are groundless and seek to divert attention from Washington’s failures in the Asian nation, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Khaama news agency cited Lt. General Austin Scott Miller, the newly nominated commander of the US-NATO mission in Afghanistan, as saying that Pakistan, Russia and Iran supported Taliban fighters.

“There have been a large number of requests to provide comments on the statement of General Miller, the nominee for the position of commander of the US-NATO forces in Afghanistan, on Russia’s alleged support for the Taliban … The topic is not new. We, for our part, recorded endless attempts at misinformation by US representatives with basically the same wording … It appears that the United States is trying to distort Russia’s activities in Afghanistan in order to divert attention from its own multiple errors it has made over its more than 16-year presence in Afghanistan, ” Zakharova said at a briefing in Samara.

The conflict in Afghanistan has been the longest in which the United States has ever been involved. In August 2017, US President Donald Trump announced his new strategy on Afghanistan which envisioned bolstering US troops numbers in the country. Trump said that while he shared the frustration of the US population over the country’s long and costly presence in Afghanistan, and though his “original instinct was to pull out,” he had to depart from this campaign rhetoric after consultations with US military officials on the matter.

In May, the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said that the US Defense Department and Agency for International Development had spent around $4.7 billion on stabilization initiatives since 2001, but the projects had failed to improve the capacity and performance of the Afghan government.


Construction Work on Balkh Cricket Stadium Kicks off

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balkhAriana: The construction work on Balkh cricket stadium was officially inaugurated on Tuesday with financial assistance from the government of India. The stadium will be built on 14 acres of land with a cost of 1 million USD in the provincial capital Mazar-e-Sharif City. Click here to read more (external link).

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Climate Change Will Take a Serious Toll on Afghanistan by 2050: Abdullah

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Dr. A. Abdullah

Dr. A. Abdullah

Ariana: Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah on Wednesday warned that climate change will take a serious toll on Afghanistan by 2050. “Afghanistan will experience an increase of approximately 1.5 degrees Celsius in mean temperature and a doubling of population by 2050,” Abdullah said in his address to delegates. Click here to read more (external link).

Former US interpreter accuses Afghanistan government of releasing Taliban prisoners

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Saber Rock

Saber Rock

The Hill: A former Afghan interpreter for U.S. forces is accusing the Afghanistan government of releasing Taliban prisoners “under the table.” Saber Rock spoke with Hill TV’s “Rising” on Tuesday morning, where he was strongly critical of Kabul’s handling of the war against the Taliban. He noted that the American government has spent billions in its war on terror, but suggested its Afghan partners have undermined some of that investment. Click here to read more (external link).

Major Post-Ceasefire Taliban Attack Kills 30 Afghan Soldiers

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badghisAyaz Gul
VOA News
June 20, 2018

ISLAMABAD — A pre-dawn Taliban attack in western Afghanistan Wednesday killed 30 members of government forces, the deadliest insurgent raid since a nationwide temporary cease-fire during the Muslim festival of Eid ul-Fitr.

Local officials said Taliban Insurgents assaulted Afghan National Army (ANA) posts in the Bala Murghab district in the Badghis province, triggering fierce clashes in the area, with both sides suffering casualties.

Provincial governor Abdul Ghafoor Malikzai told VOA the ANA lost 30 personnel when a convoy of soldiers heading to the fighting zone was ambushed by Taliban fighters.

A spokesman for the ministry of defense in Kabul confirmed to VOA that the clashes left 13 Afghan soldiers dead and eight others wounded.

Security officials in Badghis said Afghan forces also inflicted heavy casualties on the opposition, killing 15 Taliban assailants.

The Taliban ended its three-day ceasefire on Sunday while the government extended a unilateral weeklong ceasefire, initially due to end on Wednesday, by ten days. This was the first time in 17 years that Afghan warring sides temporarily suspended battlefield operations.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani hoped his initiative to suspend anti-Taliban security operations would encourage the insurgents to extend their ceasefire to pave the way for direct peace talks. The United States had also paused its operations against the Taliban to honor Ghani’s ceasefire.

But the Taliban refused to extend its ceasefire truce and has resumed battlefield attacks since Monday morning.

The insurgent group says no intra-Afghan negotiations are possible until all U.S.-led foreign troops leave Afghanistan.

The Taliban dismisses the Afghan government as a U.S. puppet and has repeatedly called for direct talks with Washington. The insurgent group blames the presence of U.S.-led foreign forces for initiating and prolonging the Afghan war.

The U.S.-led international military alliance ousted the Taliban from power in 2001 to punish it for harboring the al-Qaida terrorist network in Afghanistan.

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Afghan Officials Hold Security Talks With Pakistan Spy Chief

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Mohammad Hanif Atmar

Mohammad Hanif Atmar

Ayaz Gul
VOA News
June 19, 2018

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — A high-powered Afghan security delegation visited neighboring Pakistan on Tuesday for official talks on how to jointly push peace and reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan.

Haneef Atmar, the Afghan national security advisor, led the team, which included the interior minister and the head of the Afghan spy agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS).

Afghan sources told VOA that Atmar’s delegation stayed in Islamabad for a few hours and mainly met with the head of the Pakistani intelligence agency, Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). They said the discussions happened in the context of the Afghan government’s conflict with the Taliban and the successful mutual cease-fire over the three-day Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr.

Taliban insists on three days

The Taliban refused to extend its three-day cease-fire that ended on Sunday and has since returned to battlefield hostilities.The Afghan government’s unilateral week-long cease-fire will end on Wednesday.

Pakistani military spokesman, Major-General Asif Ghafoor, told VOA the Afghan delegation’s visit was part of ongoing bilateral engagements under a newly agreed framework known as Afghanistan Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS). He did not share any details of Tuesday’s discussions.

The wide-ranging APAPPS dialogue is aimed at easing mutual tensions and improving security, intelligence, and counterterrorism, as we well as economic cooperation between the two uneasy neighboring countries, to promote peace on both sides of their long shared border.

Afghan media reports said Atmar’s delegation also was intending to ask Pakistani officials to convince the Taliban to agree to extend its cease-fire.

US renews talks

Leaders in Afghanistan maintain that the Taliban operates out of Pakistan, and they have been calling on Islamabad to use its influence on the insurgents to end the violence and engage in peace talks with Kabul.

After months of suspension in high-level contacts with Pakistan, the United States earlier this month resumed discussions with Islamabad and acknowledged it has asked for the country’s help in pushing the Taliban to the negotiating table.

Pakistani officials acknowledge they have limited leverage with the Taliban and say they are willing to use it to help facilitate a peaceful settlement to the stalemated Afghan conflict.

But the Pakistan military rejects charges that insurgents are using the country for orchestrating attacks inside Afghanistan. Officials do not rule out that there are small groups of insurgents among nearly 3 million Afghan refugees that Pakistan still hosts, and they have been calling for an early repatriation of the displaced population.

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Nominee to Command US Forces-Afghanistan Says Withdrawal Would Harm Security Interests

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Scott Miller

Austin Scott Miller

WASHINGTON, June 19 (Sputnik) – The nominee to take over as commander of the US-NATO mission in Afghanistan, Lt. General Austin Miller, said during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday that withdrawing forces from the war-torn country would be inimical to American national security interests.

“My personal opinion is that withdrawal would have negative effects for protecting our vital national interests,” Miller told the Senate Armed Services committee.

Last month, US President Donald Trump nominated Miller to replace Gen. John Nicholson to command US Forces-Afghanistan.

Miller admitted that the United States needs to leave Afghanistan at some point but must do it in a proper manner.

He also said the recent ceasefire announced by the Afghan government is the first step towards jump starting a peace process with the Taliban.

On June 7, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced a temporary unilateral ceasefire with the Taliban for the period between June 11 and June 19 to mark the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Later in June, the Taliban decided to declare the three-day ceasefire marking the end of Ramadan.