Afghan Army soldier guards poppy crop, being subsidized by American taxpayers in the form of Agricultural assistance, military and reconstruction aid funds paid direct to the corrupt government in Afghanistan?
On July 30, 2014 Rep. Jones of North Carolina asked for and was granted permission to address the United States House of Representatives for a few minutes regarding the needless waste, loss of life, fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayer funds in Afghanistan.
“Mr. Speaker, to begin my short statement today, I would like to read you a recent headline from The Washington Times: “Golden Hammer: U.S. squandered $34 million on failed Afghan soybean project.” The first few sentences of this report read: “Call it the great American soybean heist, the latest tale of U.S. taxpayer abuse to emanate from Afghanistan. Despite clear evidence that Afghanistan’s arid soil was a bad place to grow soybeans, the U.S. Department of Agriculture spent $34.4 million tying to establish the crop in that country, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction.”
Mr. Speaker, here we go again, talking about the waste, fraud, and abuse of American resources in Afghanistan.
Yesterday I spoke on the House floor in memory of three members of the United States Army who died as a result of their service in Afghanistan. The deaths of these three men represent my greatest concern with our servicemembers continuing to remain in Afghanistan: that more and more of our men and women in uniform will be killed and wounded.
The loss of life and limb is far more important than the money that is being wasted. However, Mr. Speaker, our country is in a dangerous financial situation.
In addition to the soybean report, I want to read three more headlines that accentuate the waste of our taxpayer money in Afghanistan. From CBS News: “Is the Pentagon wasting taxpayer money in Afghanistan?” From the Center for Public Integrity: “The U.S. military was no match for Afghanistan’s corruption.” And from the World Affairs Journal: “Money pit: The monstrous failure of U.S. aid to Afghanistan.”
Mr. Speaker, how much more can the poor American taxpayer continue to spend on a failed policy in Afghanistan? I cannot emphasize enough that we have children, senior citizens, and veterans here at home that desperately need our assistance, yet we run out of money for their programs because we refuse to make cuts to the funds that are being funneled overseas, and especially in Afghanistan.
I say to the administration and to Congress that it is time to fix America’s problems, not Afghanistan’s problems, and not the world’s problems.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, I want, again, to mention the three Army soldiers who were killed last week on July 25: Staff Sergeant Benjamin G. Prange, PFC Keith M. Williams, and PFC Donnell A. Hamilton, Jr.
Mr. Speaker, beside me, I have poster after poster of the cost of war. As a young kid named Tyler Jordan–this is actually from 2003, our early days in Iraq, a very unnecessary war–his father was a gunny sergeant named Phillip Jordan, and he was killed, and here is Tyler being given the flag that was folded after it was taken off his father’s grave.
I don’t know how many of these three names I just mentioned–I know one family, he had two little girls, maybe they got a folded flag–but it is time for Congress to wake up.
There is no need to have our young men and women overseas giving their life and limb and to see the money wasted overseas in fraud, waste, and abuse when we can use it right here to fix America’s problems.
Please, God, continue to bless our men and women in uniform; and please, God, continue to bless America.”
Source: Congressional Record http://thomas.loc.gov/
See related report: US is the largest funding source to the Taliban in Afghanistan https://groundreport.com/us-is-the-largest-funding-source-to-the-taliban-in-afghanistan/
See article: “We need to stop the insanity in Afghanistan”, demanded Rep. Joneshttps://groundreport.com/we-need-to-stop-the-insanity-in-afghanistan-demanded-rep-jones/
See article: Afghan ministries unable to account for over $1 billion dollars in USAID funds – that’s your money America! https://groundreport.com/afghan-ministries-unable-to-account-for-over-1-billion-dollars-in-usaid-funds-thats-your-money-america/