John F. Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), in an address at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C., laid out why Afghanistan remains "relevant" -- and a cause for outrage -- for every U.S. taxpayer and policymaker. In short, Afghanistan is on life support, and Joe Citizen is its permanent IV. From your pockets, Uncle Sam has taken $103 billion to build Afghanistan -- so far. By the way, that figure doesn't include the costs of war-making.