With Osama Now Gone, Spend on Building R

Cliff Schecter

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With Osama Now Gone, Spend on Building Roads in America Instead of Afghanistan Posted: 02 May 2011 11:33 AM PDT Now that Osama bin Laden is dead and we find out that he has been living comfortably in Pakistan for a very long time, I really wish this tax payer money we are wasting building almost useless highways in Afghanistan would instead get spent building things in America, ans so create American jobs. From the New York Times: The money paid to Mr. Arafat bought neither security nor the highway that American officials have long envisioned as a vital route to tie remote border areas to the Afghan government. Instead, it added to the staggering cost of the road, known as the Gardez-Khost Highway, one of the most expensive and troubled transportation projects in Afghanistan. The 64-mile highway, which has yet to be completed, has cost about $121 million so far, with the final price tag expected to reach $176 million — or about $2.8 million a mile — according to American officials. Security alone has cost $43.5 million so far, U.S.A.I.D. officials said. The vast expenses and unsavory alliances surrounding the highway have become a parable of the corruption and mismanagement that turns so many well-intended development efforts in Afghanistan into sinkholes for the money of American taxpayers, even nine years into the war. The fact that bin Laden found safe haven for years in a nice compound in a major city in Pakistan has proven how stupid the “we must prevent Afghanistan from again becoming a safe haven” argument is for continuing the war. Along with bin Laden, one of the last pathetic excuses for why we are continuing to spend billions fighting to prop up the extremely corrupt Hamid Karzi administration, died with him. Ideally, now will be the time Americans start honestly asking if they want billions of their tax dollars spent creating jobs in Afghanistan or creating Americas jobs and infrastructure. Related posts: Social Security “Shortfall” Remarkably Similar to Cost of Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan We Could Have Bought a Lot of Nice Things with That $550 Million We Spent on Libya Two-Thirds of Americans Favor Full Withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan

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