Report Finds US Spent $43 Million On Gas Station In Afghanistan

NPR

Published November 3, 2015 at 12:49 PM CST

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A petrol station employee fills up the tank of a car at a fuel station in the Shomali Plain, some 20 kilometers north of Kabul in Afghanistan on February 22, 2011. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)

It’s being called “the world’s most expensive gas station.” In a new report, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction is asking U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter why nearly $43 million was spent to construct a compressed natural gas filling station in Afghanistan.

The report found the project should have cost no more than $500,000. The Department of Defense has said they have no explanation for the enormous costs.

NPR’s Philip Reeves tells Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd about the project and about the call for an investigation.

Full report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction

Guest

Philip Reeves, international correspondent for NPR. He tweets @preeves106.