Since 2001 the US has put forth $33 billion dollars to help Afghanistan reconstruct and get its self moving in the right direction. The money has gone to many different outlets, some more useful than others but all ending in the same failure. $1 million of this aid went to construct and put into operation a new power generating facility, which once constructed was left up to the Afghani people to keep up and running. However when the US came back to audit the plant it found that two of the three generators were out of commission and the other was only operating at 60 percent efficiency. Another wasted endeavor came in the form of trying to get people to stop growing poppy seeds used to make opium by replacing them with saffron. However the project didn't make it through the two years that it needed in order to make its self self-sustaining. While these two examples only account for a small fraction of the money being spent it still shows that the money is being spent poorly and for all intensive purposes being wasted.
I feel that all the money that we are spending over-seas to rebuild these countries is a waste of our money as a country. Not only do we have our own needs right now, with our country being in a recession, we don't need to take on the problems of another country. I'm not saying that the troops that are over there don't deserve the funds that they are getting I'm just saying that I don't agree with all the reforms that the US is spending on so that the Afghanis can run everything we build for them into the ground.
Do you feel that the money is being spent wisely? If not how do you think that the money would be better spent?
Afghanistan's reconstruction outpaces oversight
James McCoy
POS 2001
M-F 9:00AM
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2 comments:
No, I do not feel like our money is being spent wisely. I do agree that we should help Afghanistan, but only to a certain degree. I feel like the money could be better spent in the US by creating jobs, and more funding for public education.
Chanequia Jones
POS2001
12pm M-F
Obviously, you can't conclude from two anecdotes that all the money is being spent unwisely. Furthermore, you'd have to look at why these particular projects failed. Was terrorism part of the problem? Finally, we aren't just "taking on" the problems of Afghanistan, we invaded and bombed them, causing many of the problems they face in terms of infrastructure. Not fixing the problems we helped create would lead to more anti-American sentiment and likely an increase in anti-American terrorist attacks, which is why we invaded in the first place.
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