According to letters between the top government watchdog in Afghanistan and a DoD official, the Pentagon has had no oversight of outcomes for its Task Force for Business and Stability Operations programs since the task force ended in March. The correspondence is included in a scathing report released Monday from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction about a gas station in northern Afghanistan that investigators say cost 140 times what it should have. "DoD charged the American taxpayer $43 million for what is likely the world's most expensive gas station," Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko said in an email response to Stars and Stripes. "DoD spent nearly $800 million ... but now they claim no one knows anything about it."
The compressed natural gas station, built in the city of Sheberghan, was part of a plan to persuade Afghan drivers to switch from gasoline and to encourage international companies to invest in Afghanistan's nascent natural gas industry. The original contract to build the station was for $3 million. SIGAR's report says similar gas stations in Pakistan cost about $300,000. "The Sheberghan facility is yet another example of this Administration's reckless spending," Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said in an email to Stars and Stripes. "DoD has no explanation or documentation as to why it cost a massive $43 million to construct a compressed natural gas station in Afghanistan." The DoD did not respond to a request for comment.
Sopko began the review in May. In a letter to Defense Secretary Ash Carter, Sopko said, "On its face, this project does not seem feasible for several reasons." He went on to ask questions on how much revenue the station has provided to the Afghan government, which provides oversight for the station, and whether there was a feasibility study. A defense official responded June 17, saying the program had closed about three months earlier and Carter's office could no longer answer questions about it. "With respect to the detailed questions that you have posed regarding the Downstream Gas Utilization project, the closure of the TFBSO in March 2015 and departure of all of its employees have resulted in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) no longer possessing the personnel expertise to address these questions or to assess properly the TFBSO information and documentation retained by (Washington Headquarters Services) in the OSD Executive Archive," Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Brian McKeon wrote in the response to Sopko.
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