FAIL: State Dept. Spent $3.6 Million on Afghan Goat Carcass Game

“And That’s Just the Start of It,” Zenon Evans writes at Reason:

Buzkashi, the national sport of Afghanistan, is a fascinating game that’s sort of like a cross between polo and rugby, except that instead of a ball you play with a headless goat carcass. I recommend you watch it sometime, and apparently, the State Department does, too.

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko suspects something is “seriously wrong” and wants to know what the hell is going on. Earlier this month he sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry asking about a bizarre boondoggle in which the State Department paid millions to film the sport:

The contract originally specified five trucks at a cost of $6 million (three satellite/microwave television broadcast trucks at the unit price of $1,786,779, two Ford ES350 trucks at a unit price of $157,300 and various communications equipment). The primary use of the vehicles was for “live sporting events, such as Buzkashi, Soccer, Cricket and other sports.”2 On September 16, 2013, the contract was amended to require only 3 trucks, at a cost of $3.6 million (one satellite/microwave television broadcast truck at the unit price of $1,589,557 and two Ford ES350 trucks at a unit price of $568,062).3 SIGAR has been told that the contractor received unspecified compensation for costs incurred under the original contract.

The trucks were supposed to be delivered way back in August 2011. In fact, they didn’t arrive until September 2014, and Sopko’s got photographic proof that they’re just sitting there covered in tarp. Sopko also wants to know why the “two Ford ES350 trucks (originally priced at $157,300 each) more than tripled in price, to $568,062 each under the subsequent contract modification.”

I’m pretty sure I saw Afghan Goat Carcass open for The Police at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia in 1983.

Given that John Kerry claims to be even more obsessed with “climate change” than his actual job (and it shows), shouldn’t be going through the State Department budget line by line and cancelling as many of these zany expenditures as possible to reduce his agency’s carbon footprint?

I know, I keed, I keed; particularly given how gynormous Kerry’s own carbon footprint is. But this isn’t the first time that the man whose addiction to Botox and plastic surgery has transformed into the spitting image of the Muppet News Anchor  has run afoul of Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals and its penchant for “making the enemy live up to its own book of rules.”