The US has invested nearly $3 billion in improving roadways in Afghanistan since 2002, and yet the country’s transportation infrastructure remains in shambles, according to a new watchdog report.
Together, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of Defense (DOD) have spent $2.8 billion repairing Afghan roadways that have deteriorated due to poor weather, lack of maintenance, and insurgency activities amid the US invasion.
The findings were made by Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko, and released over the weekend after an audit of US efforts to finance road building in the war-torn country.
An additional $150 million has been deposited by the US government to strengthen the Afghan Ministry of Public Works (MOPW), which is in charge of maintaining the nation’s transportation infrastructure. Despite the investments, SIGAR found that most of the roadways in Afghanistan are in disrepair.
A review of 1,640 kilometers of U.S.-funded national and regional highways, found that most were in need of “repair and maintenance.” The audit found that of 20 reviewed road segments, nineteen had damage ranging from “deep surface cracks to roads and bridges destroyed by weather or insurgents.”
Additionally, 17 of those segments were, according to SIGAR, “poorly maintained or not maintained at all, resulting in road defects that limited drivability.”
The watchdog criticized US financiers at USAID and DOD for not properly ensuring that the Afghan government could sustain constructed roads. It added that without a proper road maintenance program at MOPW, the newly constructed roads would likely continue to deteriorate, and “billions of dollars spent on road construction would be wasted.”
SIGAR chalked up the MOPW’s lack of capabilities to poor communications, deficient information about the nation’s road inventories, and opaque contracting processes. A critical problem, according to the watchdog, is corruption within the ministry. MOPW officials informed SIGAR that the government had stopped collecting tolls due to rampant bribery.
According to the MOPW’s own assessment, 20 percent of Afghan roads were destroyed, while the remaining 80 percent were deteriorating, including the critical highway that stretches from Kabul to Kandahar. SIGAR warned that Afghanistan’s central government would find it even more difficult to exert its power, should the highway become impassible due to wear and wartime damage.
USAID estimated it would cost $8.3 billion to replace Afghanistan’s entire road infrastructure system.
SIGAR recommended that the US government condition future road building funds on the creation of an independent “Road Authority” within the Afghan government to address the current shortcomings at the MOPW. USAID concurred with the recommendation.
