'', The Associated Press, 30 January 2009

EXCERPT: "For Afghanistan, the United States has appropriated $32 billion for humanitarian aid and reconstruction while other nations have contributed an additional $25.3 billion, said a separate report released late Thursday by the office of Arnold Fields, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Congress recently approved creation of the new SIGAR audit office, which mirrors the one set up to oversee Iraq reconstruction spending ? an office that has routinely found glaring examples of fraud and waste in a wide range of projects to provide police stations, schools, improve basic services such as electricity and water and programs to teach Iraq skills needed for better governance. Arnold Fields, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, has been just getting his work under way in recent months. 'I fear there are major weaknesses in strategy,' he said in only his second quarterly report. Although he said his agency has not yet done an in-depth review, he found in recent trips to Afghanistan that 'a broad consensus ... that reconstruction efforts are fragmented and that existing strategies lack coherence.'"

To continue reading the article, click .
To continue reading the Quarterly Report, click [pdf]

See also:
'Surge of nerds rebuilds Afghanistan', Wired.com, 30 January 2009
'Pakistan for "political and development surge" by US in Afghanistan', Howrah, 30 January 2009
'A military surge isn't enough to fix Afghanistan', Newsweek, 29 January 2009

Related posts:
'Auditor cites Afghanistan rebuilding challenges', 3 November 2008
'Beset by war, beleaguered by poverty', 22 August 2008
'Afghanistan Index: Tracking variables of reconstruction & security in post-9/11 Afghanistan', 6 August 2008
'Paris Conference: An opportunity to address Afghanistan's key rebuilding challenges', 16 June 2008