U.S.
infrastructure boom in Afghanistan: $37 million aviation facility used to store
opium 21 Sep 2013 The U.S.-led effort to train the Afghan air force
faces big challenges ranging from security threats to possible repercussions
from a new review of infrastructure and equipment projects, the U.S. general in
charge said. "This is a hard deal. We're far from 100-percent guaranteed on
delivery," said Air Force Brigadier General John Michel, who leads NATO Air
Training Command Afghanistan, which is due to complete its training of the
Afghan air force by December 31, 2017 - three years after most U.S. forces leave
Afghanistan. He said the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force was
re-examining all infrastructure projects after a report that one $37 million
aviation facility may have been used to store opium and other concerns raised by
Congress. A group of U.S. lawmakers this week called on U.S. Attorney General
Eric Holder to use all available resources to back up the Pentagon's criminal
investigation into potentially improper payments made by an Army aviation unit
that awarded contracts to Russian and U.S. firms to maintain and overhaul
Russian-made Mi-17 helicopters. [Debt
ceiling debate, anyone?]
US
wars in Afghanistan, Iraq to cost $6 trillion 19 Sep 2013 The
decade-long American wars in Afghanistan and Iraq would end up costing as much
as $6 trillion, the equivalent of $75,000 for every American household,
calculates Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. When President
[sic] George Bush's National Economic Council Director, Lawrence Lindsey, had
told the The Wall Street Journal that the war would cost between $100
billion and $200 billion, he found himself under intense fire from his
colleagues in the administration which claimed that this was a gross
overestimation. Consequently, Lindsey was forced to resign. The Bush
administration had claimed at the outset that the Iraq war would be financed via
Iraqi oil revenues, but Washington D.C. instead borrowed $2 trillion to finance
the two wars, the bulk of it from foreign lenders. [See that? When it comes to financing US wars
for oil and opium, the 'debt ceiling' matters about as much as a June bug in
July. --LRP]
Ah, then came the dawn. Companies
seek to move in on Afghanistan's vast mineral wealth 22 Sep 2013
Few companies showed up to Afghanistan's fresh appeal for investment in its vast
mineral wealth on Sunday, apparently deterred by trouble plaguing two of its
largest projects and allowing small firms to emerge as the main contenders.
Hopes are pinned on Afghanistan's trillion dollar wealth in
resources weaning the country off international aid bribes, but early attempts
to unlock its potential have hit serious setbacks. These appeared to have
deterred major international firms from attending - leaving the path open to
small investors with unconventional
backgrounds criminals, prepared to take on deteriorating security and
uncertainty ahead of next year's 'election.'
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