Tipsheet

US Donates $1 Billion in Property to Afghanistan

According to Stars and Stripes, the U.S. Defense Department has donated roughly $858 million worth of real property to the Afghan government over the last five years.  

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said the former bases, ranging from small, tactical combat outposts to large operational bases, cannot be sold to the government of Afghanistan.

During the transfer of Camp Leatherneck in October 2014, roughly $236 million worth of property was donated to the Afghan government and about $39 million worth of equipment was dismantled.  

It was only a few months ago that the SIGAR released a finding that $488 million in U.S. efforts to re-stabilize Afghanistan's oil, gas, and minerals industries had little to no effect.  And in October of 2015, the same government agency released a finding titled "DOD's Compressed Natural Gas Filling Station in Afghanistan: An Ill-Conceived $43 Million Dollar Project."

Around $800 billion has been allocated for the war in Afghanistan since 2001 and over 2,000 American lives lost.

So the question that remains is what did we gain in Afghanistan, or more importantly, what did we lose?