Son Of Former Afghanistan Defense Minister Buys In Beverly Hills

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — The son of Afghanistan's former defense minister bought a $20.9 million home in Beverly Hills, and many have used it as an opportunity to critique U.S. involvement in Afghanistan.

Daoud Wardak, son of Abdul Rahim Wardak, bought a five-bedroom house in Trousdale Estates in Beverly Hills, Dirt reported. Wardak's purchase is being used on Twitter as a display of America's contribution to corruption in Afghanistan.

The house was last sold to the Woodbridge Group, according to Dirt, an investment group exposed as a massive Ponzi scheme. Woodbridge destroyed the existing house on the lot, and the new house that Wardak bought was developed by Viewpoint Collection as part of Woodbridge's bankruptcy proceedings.

Background

Abdul Rahim Wardak was one of the most powerful members of former President Hamid Karzai's government. Hamid became president in 2002 after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan and the Taliban regime fell. Karzai's government was famously corrupt, The Washington Post reported, in large part due to the United States ignoring the corruption and "doling out vast sums of money with limited foresight or regard for the consequences."

An analysis of government spending in Afghanistan found that around 40 percent of Defense Department contracts between 2010-2012 "ended up in the pockets of insurgents, criminal syndicates or corrupt Afghan officials."

Wardak was pushed out of office in 2012 in a Parliamentary effort to clean up this corruption, according to the New York Times.

It is not publicly known where Daoud Wardak's money comes from, but his brother, Hamed Wardak, runs a military transportation company that has $360 million worth of U.S. government contracts to protect supply routes in Afghanistan, Dirt reported. Government contractors such as Hamed Wardak have been criticized as key drivers of the rampant corruption in Afghanistan.