The State Department under former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wasted $6.5 million to build communication towers in Afghanistan "that were never used as intended," according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).
The oversight agency found that Clinton’s department shelled out the $6.5 million to purchase and build the communication towers, but that they have never been properly used, "despite being one of State’s highest strategic communications priorities in Afghanistan," SIGAR announced on Thursday.
SIGAR head John Sopko informed U.S. officials in a letter that Clinton’s State Department went through with the costly expenditure and ignored many "red flags."
"The letter notes SIGAR's concern that the officials responsible for planning and executing this project did not take into consideration a number of apparent red flags," SIGAR said in a press release.
"Specifically, concerns were raised that Afghan telecom providers would not connect to the system, and that DOD did not want the towers because of the high cost of fueling the towers’ generators," SIGAR maintains. "The State Department moved forward with construction despite these concerns."