Date:
Location:
The Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History presents
John Sopko
Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR)
Fourteen years and $113 billion into America's attempt to create a secure, stable, and developing Afghanistan, the balance sheet on reconstruction features some successes, but also weak points and failures. Despite advances in schooling, life expectancy, communications, governance, and other areas, Afghanistan remains plagued with poverty, illiteracy, corruption, incapacity, and--partly because of these conditions--a stubborn insurgency. Billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars have been stolen, lost, or wasted for lack of planning, execution, oversight, and accountability. The United States has pledged more aid for years to come, but the diminished U.S. presence in country and security constraints on travel make effective oversight ever more difficult. Special Inspector General Sopko will lay out some problems, discuss root causes, and suggest what might yet be done to improve Afghanistan's prospects.
Co-sponsors: Center for Middle Eastern Studies, HLS Institute for Global Law and Policy, Harvard Kennedy School's Center for International Development
Contact: Arthur Patton-Hock