WASHINGTON  -The U.S. Department of
Defense spent nearly $43 million on a gas station in northern Afghanistan and
has been unable to explain why it cost so much, a U.S. special inspector
reported on Monday.

The Pentagon “charged the American taxpayers $43 million for
what is likely to be the world’s most expensive gas station,” said John Sopko,
head of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, a
congressionally mandated body. The amount was spent between 2011 and 2014 on
construction and initial implementation of the station.

The gas station in Sheberghan, Afghanistan opened in 2012 and
was created to show that compressed natural gas could be used in Afghanistan in
cars effectively.

However, the task force behind the project closed operations in
March and for that reason, according to the report, the Department of Defense
said it did not possess “the personnel expertise to address these questions.”

“Frankly, I find it both shocking and incredible that (the
Defense Department) asserts that it no longer has any knowledge,” the report
said. It added that the task force reported directly to the Office of the
Secretary of Defense and was an $800 million program.

The report found that a compressed natural gas filling station
in neighboring Pakistan costs no more than $500,000 to construct. That would
make the gas station in Afghanistan more than 140 times more expensive.

A Defense Department spokesman said the Pentagon continues to
provide access to documents to SIGAR through a reading room.