$20 billion US tax dollars diverted yearly to deliver air conditioning to Afghanistan and Iraq, building roads, paying security, lost vehicles, deaths

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"When you have this many people in a country that doesn't want you there — that has no economy, no infrastructure and a corrupt government — and you're trying to stabilize it and build them into a viable nation? I'm not sure we have enough time, and I definitely know we don't have enough money." Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., 6/26/11 report
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"Moving fuel by convoy or even airlift is expensive, according to the Army news release from July 16, (2009)....In some places...analysts have estimated the fully burdened cost of fuel might even be as high as $1,000 per gallon." The Hill, 10/15/2009
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6/26/11, "Among The Costs Of War: Billions A Year In A.C.?" NPR

"The amount the U.S. military spends annually on air conditioning in Iraq and Afghanistan: $20.2 billion, according to a former Pentagon official.
That's more than NASA's budget. It's more than BP has paid so far for damage from the Gulf oil spill. It's what the G-8 has pledged to help foster new democracies in Egypt and Tunisia.
"When you consider the cost to deliver the fuel to some of the most isolated places in the world — escorting, command and control, medevac support — when you throw all that infrastructure in, we're talking over $20 billion," Steven Anderson tells weekends on All Things Considered guest host Rachel Martin. He's a retired brigadier general who served as chief logistician for Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq. He's now in the private sector, selling technologies branded as energy-efficient to the Defense Department.
Now it's important to note that wrapped up in Anderson's $20 billion figure are all kind of other expenditures – for instance, the cost of building and maintaining roads in Afghanistan, securing those roads, managing the security operations for those roads. That all costs a lot of money and is part of the overall war effort in Afghanistan.
The Pentagon rejects Anderson's estimate. Still his claims raise questions about how much the US footprint in Afghanistan really costs – especially something like air conditioning....
"We're seeing this in Iraq. We're turning over to the Iraqis — mostly either for a small penny or for free — the infrastructure that we built in Iraq. But we won't see back any money from that infrastructure."
Then there's the costly task of training Afghan security forces. The Obama administration has requested almost $13 billion to train and equip Afghan security forces in the next fiscal year.

And more importantly, Hellman says, "[Afghan President Hamid] Karzai indicated a couple years back that [Afghanistan] wasn't going to be a position to support their own military forces 15, 20 years out. I suspect we're going to be called on to pay a substantial part of that bill going forward."
"After this story aired and appeared on NPR.org, (Obama Defense Dept. spokesman) Lapan told NPR: "For our warfighters, the cost of fuel isn't the only price. They include the associated costs of moving and protecting fuel in combat. These costs aren't only in dollars — they can be measured in reduced mission effectiveness and in lives lost moving and protecting fuel around the battlefield. The volume of fuel US forces consume

• raises our risks and hampers our capabilities."..

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10/15/09, "$400 per gallon gas to drive debate over cost of war in Afghanistan," The Hill, Roxana Thron
"Pentagon officials have told the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee a gallon of fuel costs the military about $400 by the time it arrives in the remote locations in Afghanistan where U.S. troops operate.
“It is a number that we were not aware of and it is worrisome,” Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), the chairman of the House Appropriations Defense panel, said in an interview with The Hill. “When I heard that figure from the Defense Department, we started looking into it.”
The Pentagon comptroller’s office provided the fuel statistic to the committee staff when it was asked for a breakdown

• of why every 1,000 troops deployed to Afghanistan costs $1 billion....

With the military boosting the number of the all-terrain-mine resistant ambush-protected vehicles (M-ATVs) in Afghanistan meant to survive roadside bombs, the fuel consumption will likely rise even higher, since those vehicles are considered gas-guzzlers.
The Pentagon comptroller’s office did not return requests for comment by press time."

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12/2/11, "Furious at Latest U.S. Attack, Pakistan Shuts Down Resupply Routes to Afghanistan “Permanently”," ValueWalk.com

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There are also huge payoffs to organized crime and the Taliban for everything that goes on which could easily make the number $20 billion/yr. No one representing the US taxpayer cares about this except maybe Mr. Manchin. It's just a joke to bleed us to death.

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12/17/10, "US must draw the line at pedophilia in Afghanistan," CNN, by Amatai Etzioni

"President Obama is reviewing, again, what we are doing in Afghanistan. He should order our diplomats and generals to stop turning a blind eye to the

• widespread sexual abuse of children.

At the time our troops helped liberate Afghanistan in 2001, pedophilia had been largely curbed by the Taliban. However, since then, some Pashtun men have have been abusing the new freedoms for which our young men and women are dying --

• to molest young boys.

This vile practice has been recently documented by an Afghan journalist who returned to his native country

• for public television's "Frontline."

The program starts with a flat statement: "In an Afghanistan ravaged by war and poverty, an ancient tradition has been secretly revived: Young boys sold by their families to wealthy merchants and warlords,

• taught to dance and entertain, and used for sex."

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