Military wastes $34mon lavish HQ on an Afghan base that will NEVER BE USED as U.S. troops are sent home

A two-story facility was built on Camp Leatherneck in southern Afghanistan in spite of official warnings that it was unnecessary

Now a special inspector general is looking into why the building process went ahead anyway, and what will come of it now



Building is too costly for the Afghan army to maintain, and the outlets won't even work for their equipment because they are American plugs

Just one of a handful of similar expensive projects that were laid to waste



The U.S. military has spent $34million building a state-of-the-art building on a base in southern Afghanistan that no American soldiers will ever use.

Military officials warned that the proposed building was an example of wasteful spending three years ago when the construction began but their warnings went unheeded and the contractors built the expansive two-story facility anyway.

Now a special inspector general who is reviewing spending in Afghanistan has written a scathing letter to the Secretary of Defense saying that the building, which is in the compound of Camp Leatherneck, is symbolic of the overwhelming bureaucracy in the region.

Seats to fill: The command and control facility at Camp Leatherneck in southern Afghanistan cost $34million

Ghost town: A two-story facility in Helmand Province will now likely be demolished because American troops are being pulled out of the region, and it will be too expensive for the fledgling Afghan army to maintain

'Unfortunately, it is unused, unoccupied, and presumably will never be used for its intended purpose,' John F. Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, wrote in a letter to Secretary Hagel.

'This is an example of what is wrong with military construction in general — once a project is started, it is very difficult to stop.

'One senior U.S. military official told me that this facility was designed for a military division that was never deployed and, subsequently, a decision was made not to construct the facility, but inexplicably the building construction started and is now complete.'

In order to make it useable by anyone, communications equipment must still be bought and installed, which Mr Sopko estimates will cost $3million more.



No plans to share: The facility, the briefing room of which is shown above, was deemed unnecessary by insiders three years ago when construction began three years ago but they went ahead anyway

Under investigation: A special inspector general is now looking into why construction on the building went ahead in spite of calls by military officers to save the money

'I am deeply concerned that (U.S. Forces-Afghanistan) may be spending additional taxpayer dollars on a facility no one will ever use,' he wrote.



The Washington Post reports that the 64,000-foot facility features spacious offices with unused furniture, powerful air conditioners and security systems up to the military's high standards.

The problem, however, is that President Obama already announced the scheduled withdrawal of American troops from the war-ravaged country.

As a result, experts and military leaders in the country view the building on Camp Leatherneck as a waste.

'What the hell were they thinking? There was never any justification to build something this fancy,' an unidentified two-star Army General told The Washington Post.

Up in smoke: The facility on Camp Leatherneck is just one of a handful of multimillion dollar projects that are now left to rot in Afghanistan as American troops prepare to leave the region

The inspector general said that there are really just two possible prospects for the facility: it will be handed over to the Afghan army or demolished entirely.

Obviously it would be better for the nascent national army to take advantage of the facility, but more problems lie there simply because it was built to high American standards with strong air conditioning units that require significant- and expensive- electricity, meaning the upkeep would be costly for the Afghans.

On top of that, all of the electrical plugs were made for 110-volt machines that Americans use, as opposed to the 220-volt products used by locals, making it even likely that it will be demolished.

The completion of the building just adds to the growing outrage over other multimillion dollar projects that have been commissioned throughout the region.

Passing the torch: The Afghan army will take over some of the American bases when the U.S. troops leave but not all of them (Prime Minister David Cameron toured Camp Leatherneck in 2011)

The Washington Post also cites two other controversial spending projects that have been tossed aside.

The military spent $45million on a repair facility that was intended to fix armored vehicles, but now it is being used as a staging area to sort through military equipment due to be shipped out of the country.

An even more glaring example of wasteful spending is the building the military poured more than $80million into in northern Afghanistan that they planned to use as an American consulate.