Washington is taking back $100 million intended for an Afghan energy infrastructure project, citing unacceptably high levels of corruption in the Afghan government, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Thursday in a harshly worded statement. The U.S. will still finish the massive project, Pompeo
KABUL, Afghanistan — Washington is taking back $100 million intended for an Afghan energy infrastructure project, citing unacceptably high levels of corruption in the Afghan government, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Thursday in a harshly worded statement.
After 18 years of war and more than $800 billion dollars spent in Afghanistan — the biggest chunk on security, including the cost of U.S. forces in Afghanistan — this is one of the rare times Washington has withdrawn money from the Afghan government, which is almost entirely dependent on international assistance.
Thursday's announcement and punishing sanctions on Ghani's government would also seem to be intended to reinforce Pompeo's earlier call for"credible and transparent presidential election" when Afghans go to the polls Sept. 28. Until President Donald Trump abruptly called off talks with the Taliban last week, which had been a year in the making, Afghan presidential elections did not seem likely despite Ghani's relentless insistence that they be held. Other candidates for the country's highest position had put their campaigns on hold after U.S. Peace Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad declared a U.S.-Taliban deal was all but done.
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