What Is the Military Spending Hundreds of Millions of Tax Dollars On?

FEATURING WILLIAM HARTUNG – During the peak of the US war in Afghanistan, President George W. Bush, and military officials touted our success at bringing Afghans back to their feet through the building of schools. It was a noble sounding goal. If young Afghans were able to receive education, it would undermine the Taliban, and win over the “hearts and minds” of Afghan people to the American occupiers.

Except that today Afghanistan has plunged back into violence. And no one is talking about the schools. Now, an analysis released by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), has found that over a period of 12 years the US State and Defense Departments, and USAID spent nearly $760 million for schools in Afghanistan but no one adequately tracked how this money was spent, or whether it has made any long-term difference.

It’s a familiar story. US tax dollars are routinely spent on military expenses that are unnecessary or destructive, that serve neither the goals of war, nor peace.

Read Hartung’s LA Times op-ed HERE.

William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy and a senior adviser to the Security Assistance Monitor.