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$26–29 billion: Lost to waste, fraud and abuse rebuilding Afghanistan
The government's Afghanistan watchdog closed out its work by finding $26 billion to $29 billion of reconstruction money disappeared to waste, fraud and abuse.
FraudBadPublic receipt
Afghanistan
Afghanistan
- Spent on reconstructionOver $148B1
- Lost to waste, fraud and abuse$26B–$29B1
- Power plant built, then run at under 1% capacity$355M1
- Afghan air force planes, later scrapped$486M for 201
- People convicted with the watchdog's help1711
- Fines, restitution and other recoveries≈$1.7B1
- Equipment left behind in 2021████████████████
fraudbad.comNo taxation without receipts
What happened
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction issued its final report in December 2025, after two decades of oversight.
It found $26 billion to $29 billion of more than $148 billion in reconstruction spending was lost to waste, fraud and abuse.
Why nobody caught it
- Much of the money moved through contractors in a war zone, far from the people checking the work.
How sure are we?
Estimated
An auditor, inspector general or the agency itself estimated the fraud. It's a measured range, not a list of names.
This figure combines waste, fraud and abuse. Not all of it was criminal.
Sources
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