Pressure builds for firing of Afghan IG

Pressure builds for firing of Afghan IG
By Sean Lengell
8:39 p.m., Wednesday, July 21, 2010

A call to fire the inspector general charged with sniffing out fraud and corruption in Afghanistan's reconstruction grew a little louder and became bipartisan Wednesday.

Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, asked President Obama to replace Arnold Fields, special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (SIGAR), calling his work "appalling" and said there is "clearly a lack of competent senior leadership in his agency."

"Fraud, corruption and wasted resources are placing our soldiers and the mission in Afghanistan in danger," said Mr. Coburn, joining Sen. Claire McCaskill, Missouri Democrat, who last week demanded the firing of Mr. Fields.

"The president must take swift action and replace the inspector general and his top staff and immediately appoint an aggressive and independent watchdog who will oversee the billions of dollars the United States is sending there."

The United States has committed $51 billion to Afghanistan reconstruction since 2001, and plans to raise the amount to $71 billion over the next year.