The Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO) spent almost $800 million on various projects in Afghanistan over a five-year period in an attempt to bolster the war-torn economy.

John F. Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), told a Senate hearing this week that TFBSO activities in Afghanistan were "stymied by a lack of strategy, leadership, and coordination" and many of the projects had "little-to-no chance" of actually effecting change.

One such "poorly planned" project saw the task force import nine rare, blond male goats from Italy, and set up a farm and  a lab to certify the wool. The goal was to "bolster the cashmere industry in Herat [Afghanistan’s third largest city]."

The failed project cost American taxpayers just over $6 million. Contractors have claimed up to 350 jobs were created in the process, but Sopko said the project’s status is unknown. He also could not say whether the goats had actually been eaten.

Sopko spoke of numerous other failed projects that were undertaken as well, including the construction of an "ill-conceived" $43 million natural gas filling station in the city of Sheberghan, near Afghanistan’s natural gas fields.

RT