Posted on 10/31/2016 8:13:30 AM PDT by Lorianne
KABUL, Afghanistan — Thirteen years ago the United States called the reconstruction of the Kabul-Kandahar highway "the most visible sign" of efforts to rebuild Afghanistan. But today, that stretch of road is no longer a sign of progress.
Instead, littered with bomb craters and insurgent checkpoints, it's now "beyond repair," according to an Afghan official, and a symbol of the failed U.S. intervention here.
A report released Saturday by a U.S. government oversight body paints a grim picture of the state of Afghanistan's roads, including the roughly 10,000 miles that were constructed, paved, repaired or funded by the United States. The new roads were hailed as key to bringing economic growth and security, even when they eventually became too dangerous for travel.
Now, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) says 95 percent of the sections of road they inspected were either damaged or destroyed. And 85 percent were either poorly maintained or not at all.
(Excerpt) Read more at stripes.com ...
Ron Paul argued that we should use Letters of Marquis and Reprisal (which would have used special forces or mercenaries) and was laughed at here on FR.
See, this - THIS - is why we can’t have nice things...
Whatever idiot got us into a long term commitment to that country should have to personally pay for everything we spent.
We need to get out of Afghanistan
, and stay out. It’s a bottomless pit of expenditures.
Judt proves that you can lead a Muslim to Civilization, but you can’t make him think.
We built those big derelict canals in the Helmand province back in the 1950’s.
I’ll ask the same question I’ve been asking for years on this forum. Why are we there? I mean other than to protect the heroin trade.
Yes. WE got fleeced and it is time for that to STOP! Past time but will it stop?
We shoulda gone in there with half a dozen teams of the most vicious bastards available and gouged their eyeballs out. And never said anything about it. The end.
Meant to add...I’m a YUGE advocate of gun control...If there’s a gun anywhere around, I want to be in control of it!
For people to make money
:)
I have posted on this issue before, anyway...
Afghanistan is so primitive, that before we got there, it was the only country in the world that did not have a road between its two largest cities.
We built it, but did not realize there was no way to secure it from bandits, opium traffickers, local militias shaking down travelers, etc.
Our efforts actually increased lawlessness in Afghanistan.
We should have let the USSR keep Afghanistan instead of forcing them out. Crazy.
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