Why Afghanistan Is Such A Mess, In Two Unanswered Questions
Awkward excuses and befuddled silence greeted him in return.
"We're supposed to believe that you fellas have a plan that's going to end up in a positive way in Afghanistan?" Rohrabacher asked. "Holy cow!"
The unaswered questions, which you watch at the Wall Street Journal, speaks volumes about the debacle that is rapidly becoming America's foray into/impending retreat from Afghanistan.
The culprits were Ambassador James Dobbins, the administration's top envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Michael Dumont, the Defense Department's deputy assistant secretary for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, and Donald "Larry" Sampler, the assistant to the administrator in USAID's Office of Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs.
The answers: 113 this year, 2,292 total, and somewhere around $85 billion for 2013. (A cursory google search yields these answers from various official sources.)
Dion Nissenbaum of the Journal writes almost caustically:
The idea that U.S. officials didn't have basic facts about the war in Afghanistan on the tips of their tongues seemed apt for a conflict that has fallen off the radar in Washington, where battles over the budget, President Barack Obama's health care program and talks with Iran have eclipsed interest in America's longest war as it winds to a close.
The only seemingly responsible political element in Afghanistan is the Special Inspector General of Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), and they're on the chopping block.
Foreign Policy's Dan Lamothe starts off his profile of SIGAR chief John Sopko:
Since former prosecutor John Sopko took over last year as the top watchdog probing U.S. reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, the organization has honed a pugnacious style that has irked military commanders, grabbed national news headlines and exposed embarrassing lapses in oversight that have cost taxpayers billions of dollars.
Indeed, their shrill lamentations about the fraud, dead-end projects, and what's shaping up to be a financially messy exodus have fallen mostly on deaf ears ... apparently.
- A centenarian who starts her day with gentle exercise and loves walks shares 5 longevity tips, including staying single
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- Colon cancer rates are rising in young people. If you have two symptoms you should get a colonoscopy, a GI oncologist says.
- Having an regional accent can be bad for your interviews, especially an Indian one: study
- Dirty laundry? Major clothing companies like Zara and H&M under scrutiny for allegedly fuelling deforestation in Brazil
- 5 Best places to visit near Darjeeling
- Climate change could become main driver of biodiversity decline by mid-century: Study
- RBI initiates transition plan: Small finance banks to ascend to universal banking status
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market