Afghanistan: That 'Wasteful' Task Force? You're Not Getting the Full Story. By Daniel Fisher, Defense One
It has been a rough few months for the Pentagon’s Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, set up a decade ago to woo investors and businesses to war-torn Iraq and then Afghanistan. Several harsh inspector general reports led to a Jan. 20 hearing on Capitol Hill, where senators, in rare bipartisan agreement, accused TFBSO of wasting millions of dollars. Even DoD seemed disinclined to defend the outfit; at the hearing, Brian McKeon, principal deputy defense undersecretary for policy, emphasized that its work occurred “before [his] time.”
However, a fairly robust body of evidence suggests that TFBSO was far more effective than the present headlines let on. In fact, an economic impact assessment produced by Vestige Consulting and Acertas asserts that its work in Afghanistan will ultimately yield spectacular returns on investment…
Comments
Of course Afghanistan's GNP went up while the US taxpayer was dumping billions into it. The question is was the money used to build the infrastructure, systems and skills needed to significantly increase productivity per capita over the long term. I don't think so. To make matters worse spending by gov't employees on "the economy" leads to corruption and dislocation of the skills market (i.d. medical doctors workimng as translators)
There's a lesson here for us as well. Simply pouring cash into the economy as opposed to true investment in things intended and designed to produce more capita (with the people making the decisions on the hook for loses s well as profit) is doomed to failure. Welfare- both individual and corporate- doesn't create long term positive results here or in Afghanistan.