- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

$300 Million Failure: US Failed to Build Major Power Plant In Afghanistan

© AP Photo / David Goldman$300 Million Failure: US Failed to Build Major Power Plant In Afghanistan
$300 Million Failure: US Failed to Build Major Power Plant In Afghanistan - Sputnik International
Subscribe
As a Senate subcommittee met on Wednesday to look into waste from the Pentagon’s USAID task force, some are calling for them to review why the Kajaki Dam, a $300 million project, is sitting in Afghanistan unfinished for the last eight years.

Since 2008, the Kajaki Dam, an expensive plan to provide electricity to southern Afghanistan, has become a “monument for all that has gone wrong,” Megan McCloskey wrote for ProPublica.

US Predator unmanned drone armed with a missile - Sputnik International
Asia
At Least 17 Daesh Loyalists Killed in Drone Strikes in Afghanistan

The project began three years after the invasion, in 2004. USAID went in and restored two turbines that were neglected and nearly inoperable, which lead to the dam beginning to produce some power. The success of the operation, however, depending on the installation of a third turbine — one that was scheduled to be completed a decade ago.

Much of this failure is being blamed on the fact that the dam sits in Taliban country, making the efforts extremely dangerous, and that when the project began, the outlook for America’s involvement in the region looked more promising than it turned out to be.

In 2012, USAID finally admitted they were discussing ending the project, but instead gave a national Afghan utility $75 million and control of getting the turbine completed. USAID remained on the project in an advisory position.

Unfortunately, due to missing a time period in 2011 when US Marines had cleared the insurgent heavy area leading to the dam, they have been unable to deliver the 700 tons of concrete needed to finish the project.

An Afghan policeman reacts as smoke billows during an attack near the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad, Afghanistan January 13, 2016 - Sputnik International
Almost 10,000 Security, Terrorist Incidents Occurred in Afghanistan in 2015
A new goal date of fall of 2016 has been set for the project, but turmoil in the area surrounding it does not bode well for meeting the deadline.

“I would say that Kajaki Dam is a sign of the American people’s resilience and persistence of support of the Afghan population,” Larry Sampler, a senior USAID official who has worked on Afghanistan since 2002 told ProPublica.

An Army general who also spoke to the outlet explained that the inability to complete the project has had a “more demoralizing effect than corruption. What the Afghans don’t understand is how a country can land people on the moon but can’t get the power running.”

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала