Thanks to unauthorized shredding of documents, U.S. officials in Afghanistan have been unable to account for about $200 million spent by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on fuel for the Afghan Army over a two-year period.

John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), informed members of Congress that his office can’t confirm that $201 million in taxpayer money was indeed used to purchase gasoline for Afghanistan’s military during 2010 and 2011.

The revelation followed Sopko’s warning three months ago that American and coalition force personnel had shredded fuel purchase records that covered a five-year period. The destruction of the records was not in keeping with government procedures, and occurred after the military had been warned to preserve all documents.

Two contracting officials admitted to doing the shredding, and said it had been authorized—a claim denied by a supervisor. One contractor insisted the documents were first scanned into a computer, but said he doesn’t know how to find them.

As a result of the shredding, Sopko cannot say for certain if all the money was used for fuel, or if any funds were redirected for other purposes or stolen.

So far “no evidence” has surfaced to indicate the documents were destroyed to cover up criminal activity, SIGAR told lawmakers in a letter.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Missing: $200M in Gas Receipts for NATO Aid in Afghanistan (by Jeffrey Smith, Center for Public Integrity)

Afghan National Army: $201 Million in DOD Fuel Purchases Still Unaccounted for Because Records were Shredded (SIGAR Investigative Report) (pdf)

U.S. Wasted $3-5 billion in Iraq Reconstruction…Next Stop—Afghanistan (by David Wallechinsky and Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

$6.6 Billion of Taxpayer Money Vanished in Iraq (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)