McCaskill wins: Afghanistan reconstruction watchdog resigns

Arnold Fields, the retired Marine Corps major general in charge of reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan has resigned.

Fields had been a target of Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo, since September:

A bipartisan group of senators, led by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), asked President Obama in September to "begin the process of removing" Fields based on concerns they had raised repeatedly since early 2009.


The Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, is charged with oversight of the $56 billion that the United States has committed since 2002 to nonmilitary development and humanitarian assistance programs.

But an August review of the office by the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency found that its audits were of poor quality and that the office lacked a strategic plan.

"I don't mean to be cruel," McCaskill told Fields at a November hearing. "I don't think you're the right person for this job."

In the accompanying video from September, Sen. McCaskill says she has asked President Obama to fire Fields.