US donated $858m military bases to Afghan govt: SIGAR

KABUL (Pajhwok): The US military donated $858 million real property to the Afghan govement between January 2010 and February 2015, an American federal watchdog said on Monday.

Stars and Stripes quoted a fact sheet from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) as saying that the former bases could not be sold to the Afghan govement.

If not transferred to another military department or federal agency, the bases could be abandoned, dismantled or donated, SIGAR explained.

But Christine Abizaid, deputy assistant secretary of defense, wrote in a letter attached to the report that donating the property to Kabul was more cost effective than the other options.

“Of the 715 bases the US operated over the course of the war, 391 were tued over to the govement of Afghanistan, with the majority -- 57 percent -- going to the Afghan National Army,” the report said.

The Afghan National Police were given 30 percent of the bases, with the rest donated to other components of the Defense Ministry and the Interior Ministry.

The US closed 219 bases, and the total value of property destroyed or abandoned amounted to roughly $48 million. Six bases were transferred to other US govement agencies.

PAN Monitor