Nearly 10 million USD worth of border security equipment is sitting unused in Afghanistan after nearly a decade, the US Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) reported on Friday.
The equipment was procured by US Central Command more than a decade ago “to improve the Afghan government’s ability to reduce commercial smuggling, and increase the efficiency of the customs process and domestic revenue collection” and led to the purchasing of eight different border gates.
Upon inspection by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) in March and April 2017, however, “only one location, the Kabul airport, had any functional CENTCOM-purchased NII equipment that was being used for its intended purpose,” the report revealed, adding, “None of the equipment, valued at 9.48 million USD, at any of the other locations was operational.”
Some of the equipment had not been operational in nearly two years. The report also noted that “without the use of the NII equipment, there is little to prevent the rampant commercial smuggling and cross-border narcotics trade that has continually plagued Afghan borders.”
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