The gas station should have cost no more than $500,000. And that’s not even the worst of it: the entire Afghan enterprise, all the lives and all the billions, have been entirely wasted. Afghanistan is not a reliable ally now and will not be in the future. Nor is it a secular republic that respects the rights of all citizens. The whole thing has been a needless, tragic waste: a war with no enemy, no purpose, no goal, and no end.
“US military wasted $43 mn on useless Afghanistan gas station: watchdog,” AFP, November 2, 2015:
WASHINGTON: The United States (US) military used $43 million of taxpayer money for a natural gas station in northern Afghanistan that should have cost just $500,000, the government watchdog for reconstruction in the war-torn country said Monday.
The huge expense highlights some of the endemic problems that have plagued US aid to Afghanistan in the wake of the 2001 American-led invasion.
In a scathing letter to Defence Secretary Ashton Carter, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko complained of the project’s “exorbitant cost to US taxpayers”.
“In comparison, SIGAR found that a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) station in Pakistan costs no more than $500,000 to construct.”
And the inspector general said the US military’s Task Force for Stability and Business Operations (TFBSO) failed to conduct a feasibility study before starting construction.
“If TFBSO had conducted a feasibility study of the project, the Task Force might have noted that Afghanistan lacks the natural gas transmission and local distribution infrastructure necessary to support a viable market for CNG vehicles,” Sopko added in his letter.
“One of the most troubling aspects of this project is that the Department of Defense claims that it is unable to provide an explanation for the high cost of the project or to answer any other questions concerning its planning, implementation or outcome.”…

Matthieu Baudin says
Nevertheless, the U.S. and allied troops stationed in Afghanistan since early this century have been the most disciplined and civilised people to carry arms in that countries history. Perhaps the enterprise has been an overall failure and has helped contribute to the U.S. recurrent financial crisis, but when these forces finally leave the country they will not have left a deep scar, through the brutal treatment of the civilian population, as the Soviet Occupation had previously.
gravenimage says
Matthieu Baudin wrote:
Nevertheless, the U.S. and allied troops stationed in Afghanistan since early this century have been the most disciplined and civilised people to carry arms in that countries history. Perhaps the enterprise has been an overall failure and has helped contribute to the U.S. recurrent financial crisis, but when these forces finally leave the country they will not have left a deep scar, through the brutal treatment of the civilian population, as the Soviet Occupation had previously.
………………………
Matthieu, I was *no* fan of the brutal and unfree Soviet Union, but even they were quite civilized compared to Shari’ah under the Taliban.
And we have basically left *no* legacy whatsoever–even before the Taliban began making its inevitable incursions once we pulled out, Karzai had already *reinstated stoning*.
All those lives and over $680 billion–and Afghanistan will be exactly the same Islamic sh*t hole it was when we went in fourteen years ago.
Of course, how could it have been otherwise? As in Iraq, we let then enshrine Islam in their constitution, which meant the immediate return of Shari’ah law. Likely we could never have civilized a place that is virtually 100% Muslim, in any case. We should have shut down Osama bin Laden, then have gotten out.
Infidela says
What a waste.
mortimer says
No doubt, this was a pipeline bringing cash into the pockets of someone disreputable.
Lookmann says
OT
The photo above looks like taken from a Hollywood classic.
JMB says
Ah yes, the good old days of the classic American convertible car complete with fins together with uniformed staff who attended to all of your motoring needs. AND the days before oil was such a politically explosive commodity.
Wow, a service station like that in Afghanistan would be a true tourist attraction.
Judi says
Yep, the good old days when America was the greatest country in the world, instead of the unrecognisable sh**hole it has become today.
Lookmann says
@Judi,
US is still the most powerful nation in the world. It is not s,,,hole……yet. Though it may be becoming one fast with the influx of worthless ‘political refugees’ .
Mirren10 says
” … the good old days when America was the greatest country in the world, instead of the unrecognisable sh**hole it has become today.”
This is nonsense. America is *far* from a ‘sh**hole.’
gravenimage says
The picture illustrating this story is from a Chevron magazine ad from the 1950s.
Joseph says
As long as Islam is present the ONLY reliable ally in the M.E. will be Israel. What is so difficult about that? We in the United States should be very thankful that our neighbors to the North and South are willing to deal with our stupid administrations.
Raja says
It seems the Americans have learnt the adage -When in Rome do what the Romans do, rather too well.
No amount of money spent on the rogue states with Islam as its guiding light to do all the dark acts on others will will bear any fruit.
Jeremiah 13:23-
“Can the …leopard change his spots?
PRCS says
Umm. ’58 Chevrolet Impala.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
Would I be a conspiracy theorist to note that the license plate on the Chevy bears the letters “PAK”? Also, the service station men seem to have crooked smiles on their faces. Does this photo communicate that some kind of plot is afoot. Not in Afghan or Pak, never. But here?
PRCS says
IMO? Yes, you would be.
Surely you noted that the woman may actually be the driver, is without hijab/niqab/chador/burqa, and is in the company of, and is smiling at, apparently unrelated men
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
Yeah, I see all that. But *you* are operating under the assumption that the service man is gonna fill up the 58 Impala’s gas tank. Maybe he has other plans for how the gas is to be used. The two service men look to me like they could be Chechens, and that would make for one nasty stop.
Joseph says
@ PRCS & APF
Take a look at the gas pump itself. The display for for what is dispensed and how much it costs is not digital. The article also said that this was a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) station. this is most certainly not one of those.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
… the Department of Defense claims that it is unable to provide an explanation for the high cost of the project or to answer any other questions concerning its planning, implementation or outcome.
What this episode does explain is why the DC metro is by far the richest in the United States. You can bet that much of the $43 million is driving around in BMWs there, and not by officers of the Army or Navy.
More important, now that the Afghan fantasy is drawing to a conclusion the place can go back into the business of openly conducting large scale mass murder training and staging operations, as was done there leading up to the 9/11 mass murder.
Jeremiah says
What was the money used for? Follow the money!
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
You seem to think there will be a serious investigation. Note the Benghazi investigation and how that turned out. This is small potatoes compared to anal gang raping and beating to death a U.S. ambassador, it’s just a cash cow fake gas station is all.
Angemon says
A tree born crooked, etc.
sheik yer mami says
This gas station was probably just a beard for bribes to Afghan officials. That’s why they can’t say where the money went.
UNCLE VLADDI says
One can buy a gas station franchise in Canada for from between $50 and $100,000.
Plutarchus says
THE SOLUTION
Spend $1 billion building an auto manufacturing plant producing cars powered by natural gas. And since few Afghans can afford such cars give them away for free. Then watch Obama’s green energy gas station boom with non-carbon polluting business.
http://www.apollospeaks.com