KABUL (Web Desk) – The US squandered $6 million airlifting rare Italian goats into Afghanistan.
The US Department of Defense do to boost the cashmere industry, RT reported.
The Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO) spent almost $800 million on various projects in Afghanistan over a five-year period in an attempt to bolster the war-torn economy.
Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John F. Sopko, told US Senate hearing this week that TFBSO activities in Afghanistan were “stymied by a lack of strategy, leadership, and coordination” and many of the projects had “little-to-no chance” of actually effecting change.
One such “poorly planned” project saw the task force import nine rare, blond male goats from Italy, and set up a farm and a lab to certify the wool. The goal was to “bolster the cashmere industry in Herat.”
The failed project cost American taxpayers just over $6 million. Contractors have claimed up to 350 jobs were created in the process, but Sopko said the project’s status is unknown. He also could not say whether the goats had actually been eaten.
TFBSO claims this created nearly 10,000 carpet weaving jobs, but the report’s initial analysis questions “the veracity of this figure.”
TFBSO ended its programs in Afghanistan at the end of 2014 and ceased all operations in March 2015.
