The slow-motion Tet of 2012 continues

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/26/afghanistan-roads-idUSL4E8GQ03120120526

Afghan road lifelines blocked by graft, kickbacks
By Hamid Shalizi
KABUL | Sat May 26, 2012 5:53am EDT

May 26 (Reuters) - When the Afghan government unveiled plans for a road linking his small village to larger centres elsewhere, Rahmanullah was so enthusiastic he offered a section of his farm for the route, thinking it would help move his produce to larger markets.

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But two years on and Rahmanullah's farming land has gone and the road has largely disintegrated, along with the hopes of local people for a less hardscrabble life in a province where the insurgency offers much-needed money for fighters.

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"I gave my farming field for free to the builders to give us a road and this is the result," Rahmanullah said, glumly pointing to a cratered and crumbling surface snaking from his village.

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More than $57 billion has been spent on Afghanistan's reconstruction since the toppling of the former Taliban government in 2001, but critics says millions of dollars have been misspent as donor aid is parachuted on to an opaque maze of local and international contractors.