More Proof That Haste, Waste, Dysfunction & Fraud Are The Norm Overseas

THE REACH OF WAR; U.S. REPORT FINDS DISMAL TRAINING OF AFGHAN POLICE

More proof that things are not working the way we expect them to over there... Bush keeps telling us that things are tough but working while the evidence keeps mounting that things are not only tough, not working, but also leading to disaster. There is also mounting proof that our hard-earned tax dollars are being wasted en masse.

American military's field-training of police force in Afghanistan is roundly criticized in joint report by Pentagon and State Dept; report claims no effective training program has even been established there, five years after fall of Taliban, at least in part because of slow, ineffectual start and understaffing; finds that American-trained police force is largely incapable of carrying out routine law enforcement work and that managers of $1.1 billion training program cannot say how many officers are actually on duty or where thousands of trucks and other equipment issued to police units have gone; police training experts with first-hand experience with American effort in Afghanistan agree with report's findings; some cite additional problems, such as quality of private contractors and cost and effectiveness of relying on them to train police officers; experts question why report focuses on US government managers and only glancingly analyzes performance of principal contractor, DynCorp International of Virginia; report estimates that $600 million will be needed per year indefinitely to sustain police force in Afghanistan.