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6 million airlift nine goats, American fancy corruption is amazing

$6 million to airlift 9 goats from Italy; The transport plane purchased with us $486 million has been idle for a long time, and the 'fancy corruption' of the United States in Afghanistan is amazing. In the 18 year war, 2300 soldiers died at a cost of more than $1 trillion & hellip& hellip; This is the "report card" handed over by the Pentagon in the Afghan war - Afghanistan is worthy of being called the "Tomb of the Empire".

What's more amazing is that an internal document of the US government disclosed by the Washington Post recently shows that behind this protracted war is all kinds of "fancy corruption" of the US military, the US State Department and aid agencies.

On the 14th, US media reported that the trump administration planned to announce the withdrawal of 4000 US troops from Afghanistan this week. In fact, withdrawing troops from Afghanistan is also Trump's "American style anti-corruption" to some extent, but can he achieve the goal of withdrawing troops in front of powerful interest groups?

'headless fly': the United States' is like having no strategy at all '

Although the plight of the U.S. military in Afghanistan and rumors of corruption have never stopped, the details of the documents obtained by the Washington Post shocked the public. In order to obtain first-hand information, the newspaper began to request the office of the special inspector general for Afghanistan Reconstruction under the U.S. Congress to disclose relevant information in August 2016, and finally obtained more than 2000 pages of investigation documents in accordance with the U.S. freedom of Information Act, that is, the 'Afghan documents' that shocked the United States.

These documents cover interviews with 'people who played a direct role in the war', from generals and diplomats to aid workers and Afghan government officials. In addition, the newspaper also obtained the oral archives of former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's war in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2006 kept by the Pentagon.

In October 2001, just a few days after the US military began bombing the Taliban, when answering a reporter's question about whether it would repeat the mistakes of the Vietnam War, President Bush said that Washington had learned some very important lessons from the Vietnam War, 'as long as & lsquo; Base & rsquo; If the organization is brought to justice, the war will end. It may take a month or a year or two, but we will win '.

However, the "Afghanistan document" shows that the U.S. military and various departments of the U.S. government soon became a "headless fly" on the battlefield in Afghanistan. Year after year, senior government officials and field commanders have different opinions on who is the enemy and the ultimate goal of the war. The U.S. military's strike targets have expanded from the 'al Qaeda' organization to the Taliban, and in recent years they have fallen into battle with the emerging 'Islamic state' branch. How to deal with relations with Pakistan and other external forces has also embarrassed the Pentagon and the State Department.

Washington's initial vision was to help Afghanistan establish a strong Pro western government to develop its economy and maintain security after the elimination of extremist organizations. But the 'Afghanistan document' shows that a former State Department official told investigators that this original intention was wrong because there was no strong central government in Afghanistan's history. It may take 100 years to establish a strong central government in Afghanistan, but the US military simply does not have so many resources and so strong capabilities.

In addition, the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Agency for international development and non-governmental organizations, which are constantly involved, also advocate the establishment of a democratically elected government in Afghanistan, the improvement of women's rights, and even use Afghanistan to reshape regional order and adjust the power balance among Pakistan, India, Iran and Russia. In 2015, a US official said in an interview that with the implementation of the Afghanistan Pakistan strategy, 'everyone wants a gift under their Christmas Tree & hellip& hellip; You have so many priorities and aspirations, it's like there's no strategy at all '.

Manipulating public opinion: the report claims to "constantly achieve new victories"

On the battlefield, the US military has invested huge resources. Over the past 18 years, more than 775000 US officers and soldiers have been sent to Afghanistan. Some of them have participated in the war many times, and the war cost has exceeded US $1 trillion. However, documents show that the US military has been in trouble since 2002.

In 2006, Rumsfeld, then Secretary of defense, received a report from retired US general McCaffrey after his field investigation in Afghanistan, saying that the momentum of the Taliban's comeback was impressive, and predicted that "we will encounter some very unpleasant accidents in the next 24 months". McCaffrey warned: "Afghan leaders are collectively afraid that we will quietly withdraw from Afghanistan in the next few years and let NATO take responsibility, so that the whole Afghanistan will fall into chaos again." Two months later, a 40 page confidential report by defense ministry civil servant stemetsky revealed more bad news. The report criticizes the Afghan government for corruption and incompetence, and public dissatisfaction with the government is accumulating.

In the face of the unfavorable situation, the Pentagon's "glorious tradition" of manipulating public opinion and evading responsibility for decades has once again haunted it. In October 2006, Rumsfeld, who launched the war in Afghanistan with President Bush, wrote a macro article entitled Afghanistan: five years later. The report selectively uses more than 50 'promising facts and data' to depict a promising picture of a new Afghanistan to the American people. The report, which was posted on the website of the U.S. Department of defense, laid the template for Washington's report on Afghanistan for more than a decade: the U.S. military continued to make new victories and new progress, but the territory of the Taliban continued to expand, and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan became out of reach.

Former U.S. diplomat Dobbins said at a hearing in the Senate that the standard to measure the success of the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan is not the U.S. military report, but how many Afghan civilians were killed. 'if the number rises, you lose. If the number drops, you win. It's that simple. " According to the United Nations, 3804 Afghan civilians were killed in the war last year, the highest number since the United Nations began tracking the number of casualties 10 years ago.

For the Pentagon's manipulation of public opinion in the war in Afghanistan, US media warned that Washington was following the Vietnam War. In the ten-year Vietnam War, the U.S. military transmitted optimism to the people by artificially creating statistics and controlling public opinion, but it got deeper and deeper on the battlefield and was finally forced to withdraw unconditionally.

Amazing waste: live in a $150 million luxury villa and travel by helicopter

More shocking to the public than manipulating public opinion is the 'fancy corruption' and shocking waste of the US military in Afghanistan. In fact, since the special inspector general for reconstruction of Afghanistan sopko took office in 2012, his office has been exposed to fierce news. One of them was the accident of 'buying nine goats for $6 million'.

According to sopko's investigation, the British Independent once deduced the 'deeds' of' the US military spent US $6 million to airlift nine goats from Italy to Afghanistan '. Some media also said that these goats disappeared and 'may have been stewed by the US military'. In this regard, the Pentagon explained that this is an "important action to boost the cashmere industry in Afghanistan" by the U.S. military. The purpose is to improve the varieties of Afghan native goats and improve the quality of cashmere. In addition to airlifting goats, the $6 million funding also includes $2.3 million to Colorado State University to develop breeding models and train Afghans.

The 'Afghanistan document' also accused the Pentagon of spending $150 million on a special project to build 'luxury villas' in Afghanistan for staff, rather than living in U.S. military barracks. The document points out that the staff of the special project live in luxury and travel by helicopter. The villa is equipped with flat screen TV and has at least two main dishes. These acts are out and out corruption in difficult Afghanistan. In this regard, the Pentagon refuted that the task of the alleged "business and stability action task force" is to introduce foreign capital to Afghanistan. It usually contacts with company executives, so it is not suitable to live in military barracks. The military argued that the residence built was not a 'luxury villa', but a 'large house with better conditions', and it had to accommodate dozens of people when needed.

In the 'Afghanistan document', similar 'willful' spending and 'fancy corruption' emerge one after another. The Pentagon spent $43 million to build a compressed natural gas station in Afghanistan, 140 times the cost of Pakistan. The US military has also built a military facility in Afghanistan with a cost of up to US $36 million, but it has never been used; Among the 20 g222 cargo aircraft purchased with a cost of $486 million, at least 16 remained idle on the airport runway for a long time, and were finally recycled as waste at a price of $32000.

Drug control failure: US $9 billion has been wasted, and Afghanistan's opium production has increased instead of decreasing

According to the Washington Post, the 'Afghan documents' it obtained show that in addition to' fancy corruption ', the blind decision-making of the United States in Afghanistan has also wasted a lot of taxpayers' money. During the peak fighting period from 2009 to 2012, the US Congress and senior US military officials believed that if more funds were invested in infrastructure construction such as schools, bridges and canals, the security situation in Afghanistan would improve and the influence of the Taliban would decline. On the contrary, a government official told investigators that the U.S. investment "is like spraying coal and oil on a dying campfire, just to keep the flame burning", which can not change the trend of the growth of the Taliban.

Afghanistan is an important base for global drug production. Over the past 18 years, the United States has spent $9 billion to help solve the problem of drug production. But Afghan farmers are growing more opium poppies than ever before. According to the United Nations Office on drugs and crime, Afghanistan accounted for 82% of the world's opium production last year. In the interview, some former government officials said that the United States is committed to establishing a 'prosperous market economy' in Afghanistan, but it seems that drugs are the 'only successful area'.

According to the document, there was no single agency or country responsible for Afghanistan's anti drug strategy throughout the war. The US State Department, the military, NATO allies and the Afghan government have constantly held coordination meetings and issued anti drug policies, but all policies have failed. For example, the British government has allocated funds to compensate Afghan farmers who grow opium poppy and let them destroy their crops. As a result, farmers grow more opium poppy next year. Later, the U.S. military asked Afghan farmers to eradicate poppy fields free of charge, which angered the farmers and made them side with the Taliban.