US Program To Revive Afghan Economy Fails: SIGAR

[Zibago]

However with Afghanistan its different. They don't accept our existence and lay a claim on nearly 60% Pakistan and their population backs this and usage of taunting and abusive words for Pakistanis doesn't help.

Sticks and stones love sticks and stones

You see the difference and bcz of this there won't be any efforts or mechanisms for it. Add to that the fact that the online afghans are completely ignorant to ground realities makes the success of such an attempted venture next to impossible.

My gut feeling is they pretend to be ignorant so they make a better case of things they WANT to be true cuz you know alternative facts really build the foundations of alternative universes
But if wishes were horse i would be a billionaire

They need to study their own history and on grounds facts of today if they wish for their country to go forward name calling may earn them some brownie points from Gangalanders online but nothing more than that

 

[saiyan0321]

Sticks and stones love sticks and stone

Yes but it will always create an unhealthy environment.

My gut feeling is they pretend to be ignorant so they make a better case of things they WANT to be true cuz you know alternative facts really build the foundations of alternative universes

Could be. They do live in an unrealistic fantasy world however o think that majority are heavily demoralized as well.

This madness did not start in 2001, this civil war has been there before the Russian revolution. This 50 year civil war taking different shapes has created massive demoralization especially the return of the Taliban, the rise of ISIS and the constant break down of security forces and the constant weakening of the govt. At this point they are extremely demoralized and find boogeymen justify the dark state their country is in so they create many lies and fantasies which are complete opposite of ground realities.

They need to study their own history and on grounds facts of today if they wish for their country to go forward name calling may earn them some brownie points from Gangalanders online but nothing more than that

Quite frankly the afghans are lost. They study falsified history. Many believe that the Durand line was a 100 year affair without realizing that this 100 year lie was written nowhere yet it's their common argument.

They have abandoned history and try to draw respect through pity. Abandoned history, bleak future has forced them to become irrational and illogical.

No mechanism can survive bcz they afghans are illogical. In fact they have actively worked to alienate their own ethnic brethren by calling them names and have openly displayed racism and ethnicism.

Pathetic and pitiful. Kick the refugees out of our country, fence the border and let them be in that hell.

]

 

[Ahmad Sajjad Paracha]

.



Quite frankly the afghans are lost. They study falsified history. Many believe that the Durand line was a 100 year affair without realizing that this 100 year lie was written nowhere yet it's their common argument.

They have abandoned history and try to draw respect through pity. Abandoned history, bleak future has forced them to become irrational and illogical.

No mechanism can survive bcz they afghans are illogical. In fact they have actively worked to alienate their own ethnic brethren by calling them names and have openly displayed racism and ethnicism.

Pathetic and pitiful. Kick the refugees out of our country, fence the border and let them be in that hell.

]

Afghanis including their government says that all Pakhtuns living in Balochistan and K.P.K have their origin from Afghanistan as all of pashtuns have come from there and persia. They say that pakhtun,culture language and leaders are same so paktuns living in pakistan and afghanistan are same and there is no such thing as pakistani pakhtun as all pakthuns are afghan so k.p.k and balochistan belong from afghanistan and pakhtun should demand their land back from pakistan( and by pakistan they mean pak army and punjabis). Local people do not recognise durrand line and say that pakhtun living in pakistan are brain washed by punjabis and are coward to demand their area. Even in 1950s with the support of their fake and selfish ally india they were doing this redentless claim that western side of pakistan belongs to Afghanistan and they should be given back their area while ignoring the gound realities.

 

[django]

My Dear! If we went to UN it’s because we Afghans until today don’t recognize DL as international border between Af-Pak!... Even in the future if we don’t negotiate on this issue and just start fencing unilaterally I don’t expect peace in the region because one is grabbing others rights and when there is injustice movements will be there!... Berlin wall didn’t work and Pak has to look into the history before wasting money!... It’s in Pakistan’s favor to forsake claim of DL otherwise it will be difficult for her to survive in the religious militancy (nourished by ISI) and the independent movements in other provinces!
Its not yet late!

Whether you Afghans recognize the "Abdur Rahman Khan" line or not we could not give two hoots, now Sarah if Pashtuns of Pak wanted to join Afghanistan, no force in the world could stop them, the reality is they are extremely PATRIOTIC and very well represented in each an every institution of Pakistan, I bet the economy of Peshawar is larger than the entire economy of Afghanistan, their are more Pashtuns in Karachi than in any city of Afghanistan and I could go on and on, heck even Afghanis in Pakistan are doing all they can to STAY in Pak (every province of Pak) and avoid going to your Afghanistan yet you are talking about Pak Pashtuns wanting to become part of Afghanistan, young lady no body wants to join with Afghanistan, the quicker you folks realise this the better! .Kudos Sarah

 

[pakistani342]

Hmm..

Don't think it will work out. I am trying to understand the nature of hatred all three nations of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India harbor and I have come to the conclusion that the nature is different.

You see pakistan and India have Kashmir issue and partition memories but that's it. Both countries accept the existence of each other and quite frankly so does the population.

However with Afghanistan its different. They don't accept our existence and lay a claim on nearly 60% Pakistan and their population backs this and usage of taunting and abusive words for Pakistanis doesn't help.

You see the difference and bcz of this there won't be any efforts or mechanisms for it. Add to that the fact that the online afghans are completely ignorant to ground realities makes the success of such an attempted venture next to impossible.

Once a very well versed poster on history went by the old name of Samarkand once stated that 90% of pak-afghan problems would be solved if they would accept the border.

I could be mistaken but until the recent rise of the Modi government there was not a serious issue between India and Pakistan. I think the threat Pakistanis feel is an echo of 1971 and Partition -- Pakistan could have gotten far more from that relationship through appeasement. What may be unpopular to say here on this forum is that the Pakistani paranoia has strengthened the hands of the Indian right wing and reduced the space for liberal Indians. This is similar to what ISIS and Extremism that has Islamic labels has done in the West: it has reduced the space for the Left -- which is kind of what the Muslim Extremists wanted -- but does the Pakistani security establishment want to reduce the space for the Indian left -- quite to the contrary I would assume.

Now back to the topic of this thread: Pakistan/Afghanistan hostility is rooted in many things -- the one theory which does not get bandied about as much (and it is just one contributing factor) is that Pakistan and Afghanistan are two states that are diametrical opposites on the Time dimension. Afghanistan is all about a supposed 5000 year history -- Pakistan is supposedly (with lots of emphasis) about a 5000 year future. In someways Pakistan and Afghanistan are irrelevant to each other -- you could build a Trumpian wall between the two and both will continue to exist. In other ways both are a threat to each others DNA -- if you can have a successful multiethnic culturally Muslim state, Pakistan -- along the lines of a more primitive version of Israel which with a lot of difficulty has created a very successful social contract between Ashkanazim, Sephardim and Mizrachim (which would make Nationalistic Baloch/Punjabi establishment quarrels seem like a school yard brawl) you basically undo Afghanistan -- Afghanistan get reduced to a bunch of primitive candidate Pakistanis to be co-opted into Pakistan. And if you have a successful culturally Muslim state that is based on 5000 year history -- you call into question this upstart called Pakistan.

The future is not kind to the past as demonstrated by electricity over coal and coal over oxen -- Afghanistan is in trouble by default. It's more for Pakistan to screw up things: which I think having an India centric security mindset has done so.

 

[pakistani342]

Don’t you get scholarships in abroad like Common wealth, full bright, Erasmus and many others from east to west?
Didn’t you burn flags (US&Switzerland)?
When your fellas use word NAMAK HARAM they’ve to look into their GREBAAN!.....and if in your case country comes first then why not I follow the same ideology!!!.....
So We can live together with peace iff we respect each other’s sovereignty!!!.... it’s not like you kill my people and destroy my country and i am supposed to be silent because I studied there.... NO!!!!.... NEVER!!!
PERIOD!!!

My sister -- I have gotten foreign scholarships from Western countries -- I have never ever burned their flag -- and I personally know many Pakistanis or former Pakistanis who have gotten scholarships but I do not know a single one of them who has Burt an American flag or a British flag.

Now I am sure there are many people who get such scholar ships andburn the flags of the givers -- we call them Namak Haram too -- no discrimination there and they would be less than 1% of the people who receive such awards (which is too much)

So your GREBAAN scale is correct but it simply applies to Afghans not Pakistanis.

My question to you is do you know of an Afghan who has received a Pakistani scholarship or has sought shelter in Pakistan or his/her family caught shelter in Pakistan and is grateful -- as the saying goes a handful of grain in times of need is more than mountains of gold in times of plenty -- perhaps this handful of grain separates Pakistanis from Afghans.

Another example is how Pakistanis in the Gulf get treated as second class citizens -- my family and I were such Pakistanis -- standing in separate lines, getting our visas canceled and having to return to Pakistan -- getting treated sometimes like dirt -- but I have never been ungrateful, where I or my family are today is because of the opportunities our Gulf brothers afforded us -- and I don't know of too many Pakistanis who are different than me. There may be 2 or 4 or 6 but not more.

In sum: Pakistanis despite their innumerable faults acquit themselves well on the GREBAAN scale -- Good to see you on the form!!!

 

[Arsalan]

A report by the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction says a program by the Defense Department of the United States has spent $675 million USD to revive the Afghan economy, but it could not provide reliable data on where the money went.

“DOD was unable to provide reliable data showing the extent to which TFBSO projects created jobs, facilitated foreign direct investments, increased exports, or increased Afghan government revenues,” the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said in the report titled DOD Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO).

TFBSO's purpose was to fund business-related projects to reduce violence by encouraging Afghans to focus on economic activity rather that fighting. However, the SIGAR report, showed the program to be inept and beyond the Defense Department's capabilities.

"Because important documents and data were not consistently collected or retained, we could not fully assess the extent to which the $675 million obligated by TFBSO was spent effectively," the report said.

TFBSO often had unrealistic expectations in project execution and it failed to account for local factors including politics, culture, weather, and security, SIGAR said.

Much of the $70 billion spent to train Afghan armed forces has been wasted. Here’s how to do better.

The report says that TFBSO did not clearly articulate its intended mission, objectives, and strategy until more than 2.5 years after it entered Afghanistan.

TFBSO’s lack of a strategy, coupled with the confrontational style of TFBSO’s early leadership and a lack of policy direction from State and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan (USFORA), brought it into almost immediate conflict with USAID and State, and also strained TFBSO’s early relationship with the Commander of USFOR-A.

Furthermore, TFBSO did not consistently coordinate its activities with other US government stakeholders in Afghanistan—namely State, USAID, and USFOR-A—leading to conflicting projects and wasted money.

TFBSO’s poor coordination with other agencies diminished its ability to align its activities with the priorities of the USFOR-A Commander and the US Ambassador to Afghanistan.

SIGAR says that it has reviewed the following specifications in the report.

The Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO) was a temporary organization created by the Department of Defense (DOD) to support operations in Iraq.

However, in 2009, DOD redirected TFBSO to carry out economic development projects in Afghanistan. TFBSO operated in Afghanistan from 2010 through 2014. Congress appropriated approximately $823 million for TFBSO operations in Afghanistan, and according to contracts we were able to review, TFBSO obligated more than $675 million in contracts.

Of that amount, $316.3 million was obligated in direct support of projects related to agriculture, banking, oil and gas, indigenous industries, and mining. Of the remaining $359.5 million, approximately $299.8 million was obligated on indirect costs in support of TFBSO’s projects and $59.7 million on general and administrative costs.

SIGAR conducted this audit at the request of Senator Charles E. Grassley and then-Senator Kelly A. Ayotte. They sent separate letters in January 2016 requesting that SIGAR conduct a comprehensive performance audit of all TFBSO programs and activities in Afghanistan.
http://www.tolonews.com/afghanistan/us-program-revive-afghan-economy-fails-sigar
We are doing our part by sending in more qualified manpower to help in nation building
@RealNapster @django @Arsalan

We have a fairly good idea about where that all went.....

AND:

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/corruption-of-afghan-elite.539214/#post-10172260

 

[Path-Finder]

You have fought your war on our land!!! Bitter Truth!!!
Never think that you were all doing that for Afghans in the name of Islam!!!
Irony is that... for Afghans you supported Taliban government and for Pakistan you are against the same ideology!!!... first establish that sharia in Pakistan!.... why are you opposing that sharia!...

Let me get this straight it is ok for soviets to occupy you and it is ok for the yanks to make afghanistan their fiedom!