Siogahn O’Grady writes:   Billions of dollars have been wasted in Afghanistan since the U.S. launched ambitious plans to rebuild the country in 2002, and American watchdog John Sopko has spent the past two years documenting American-led reconstruction failures caused by mismanagement or outright corruption on the part of Afghan officials.

But a report from Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, found that at least one incident of mismanagement — the failed attempt to renovate Pol-i-Charkhi prison, Afghanistan’s largest correctional facility — came at the hands of two State Department employees charged with overseeing the project. And in an unusual role reversal, it was an Afghan national who actually had to fill their shoes after both Americans were suspended from their posts for fraud and mismanagement.

Even though Al-Watan only completed 50 percent of the contracted work, the State Department still paid the company $18.5 million – over 90 percent of the initial agreement.  Though SIGAR recommended the State Department investigate whether the settlement was appropriate, State declined the possibility it was influenced by biased employees.

Al-Watan also managed to break their contract by botching necessary roof repairs. Construction workers used wood roof trusses instead of the metal ones agreed upon in the contract, then covered up the 30-year-old wood trusses with new material instead of replacing them entirely, as they were contracted to do. Sopko’s office was unable to track down any written permission for Al-Watan to replace the metal trusses with wooden ones. He also found that Al-Watan failed to properly connect six costly back-up power generators.

The watchdog laid much of the blame for Al-Watan’s failings at the feet of Kenneth Brophy, a State Department employee who oversaw the work that was completed at the prison. Sopko’s report said that Brophy’s lack of proper oversight meant the work was not always completed responsibly.”   Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction