WASHINGTON, July 30 (Xinhua) -- A report released Tuesday showed that the U.S. State Department squandered 103.2 million U.S. dollars on a failed camp project in Afghanistan.
According to the report released by the Office of the Inspector General of the State Department, a decision was made in 2014 to move the Kabul Embassy Security Force (KESF) closer to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, and Aegis Defense Services was awarded a contract to build a camp for KESF personnels at the cost of about 173.2 million dollars.
After the project was stalled for more than two years, the State Department was forced to terminate the project, with little to show for the 103.2 million dollars already invested.
The report found that the State Department was warned more than a month before awarding the project that it would not likely be finished on time or on budget. However, the State Department moved forward with the project.
"This task order was moreover managed by employees who lacked the expertise necessary to properly plan and manage this complex, large-scale construction project," the report said.
"Delays began almost immediately and persisted throughout," the report said, "in January 2017, the department terminated the project for convenience after very little work had been accomplished, and the design was never completed."
"This led to expenditures of 103.2 million dollars without any discernible benefit to the department or the people it intended to protect," the report concluded.
