The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), in its final quarterly report to Congress, announced the conclusion of its oversight mission related to Afghanistan.
Established in 2008 to monitor U.S. reconstruction spending, SIGAR has since published 68 quarterly reports and is regarded as the most comprehensive independent source on the largest reconstruction effort in U.S. history.
According to the report, during its 17 years of operation SIGAR identified 1,319 cases of waste, fraud, and abuse. The watchdog estimated that at least $24 billion of American taxpayers’ money was squandered on Afghanistan reconstruction projects. At the same time, SIGAR’s investigations helped recover or save $4.39 billion for U.S. taxpayers.
The report stressed that with the complete halt of U.S. assistance to Afghanistan after 24 years, the future of the country is now in the hands of its people.
In its assessment, SIGAR concluded that corruption had threatened the entire U.S. mission in Afghanistan from the outset, severely undermining efforts to establish an effective government and functional security forces. Referencing its previous “Lessons Learned” report published in September 2016, the watchdog reiterated that failure to combat corruption was one of the key reasons for the collapse of Afghanistan’s reconstruction programs.
SIGAR noted that its warnings were intended as an analysis of ongoing trends and a caution about the consequences of unchecked corruption. The fall of Afghanistan’s government in 2021, the report stated, later confirmed the accuracy of those warnings.
