The military warehouse facility in Kandahar was well built, an inspector general investigation concluded. Construction of the four warehouses and an administration building, which were to house the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), wrapped up in February 2014.
The Army, however, had already sent DLA home in August 2013, six months before the complex was completed.
Nonetheless, the project "continued uninterrupted," without any attempts to reevaluate or downsize it, according to a new report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).
Instead, the military added $400,000 of modifications to the buildings – fully knowing DLA would never use it, SIGAR wrote in a report released Tuesday.
In the end, the facility was built two years past deadline and $1.2 million over budget.
"Although the $14.7 million DLA warehouse facility was well built, lengthy construction delays led to the facility never being used for its intended purpose," SIGAR said. "Had the facility been completed on schedule, DLA would have been able to use the warehouse facility for more than 2 years before its mission ended in Kandahar."
Tuesday's report from SIGAR is the latest in a series highlighting how US taxpayer dollars were wasted in Afghanistan. In another case, the military constructed a $36 million building in Helmand province, even though a US general said it was not needed.
