I was planning on sending home my copy of Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s book Little America several months back. Instead, today it passed into the hands of the the fifth reader. I am glad to have chosen the hardbound copy. It may go through many more readings before it leaves Kandahar Airfield.

Last week the book’s author wrote an article for the Washington Post describing what is probably the last episode of USAID involvement in the development of the Kajaki Dam on the Helmand River. This dam dates back to US development aid to Afghanistan in the 1950s and was part of the irrigation scheme devised by the Morrisson-Knudson firm. The dam construction was completed in 1953. Two of three turbine generators were installed in 1975 with the goal of providing hydroelectric power for the city of Kandahar.

Now, sixty years after the dam’s completion, USAID is walking away from the project. They will task the Afghan state electric company with installation of the problematic third turbine and fund them for the remaining work which is estimated to cost 70 million US dollars. The area of the dam and access roads have been secured at the cost of the lives of more than fifty US troops. Security concerns will be passed to the Afghans for the completion of the project.

This is an embarrassing conclusion to the story of the largest monument to American development aid to Afghanistan. I am sure that other readers of Little America will want to read Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s description of the hand-over of the project as it appeared in the Washington Post on 04 March 2013.