Afghanistan: Daoud military hospital scandal (VIDEO)

US military Lt. General William Caldwell, one of the nation’s highest-ranking commanders in Afghanistan, is accused of covering up an investigation into Daoud hospital, a US-funded military hospital in Kabul where patients suffered in "Auschwitz-like" conditions, according to BuzzFeed.

Colonel Gerald Carozza, Jr., who served in Afghanistan as Chief of Legal Development for the Afghan National Army and Ministry of Defense, in a written testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, had this to say:

"Patients [Afghanistan soldiers] were lying in filth, in some cases starving and with grotesque bed sores." 

Carozza added, Lt. General William Caldwell "did not want bad news to leave his command."

To obtain care, many patients were forced to bribe medical staff. Those who could not afford to pay, “died in their beds,” the RightScoop reported.

According to CNN, in 18 months US taxpayers spent more than $150 million on the hospital. 

Colonel Schuyler K. Geller, who also testified before the committee, said “Afghan soldiers’ families [had] sold their farms and indentured themselves for healthcare in the US and coalition-supported Daoud Khan Hospital." His full statement can be found here.

One can't help but recall the 2007 Walter Reed Army Medical Center catastrophe. Washington Post's Dana Priest and Anne Hull broke that story, and won a Pulitzer for revealing the hospital's monstrous neglect of wounded American soldiers. 

"Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses," they wrote. 

Of course, differences between the two cases abound. However, it is terrifying that Daoud is simply the latest chapter in the increasingly lengthy book on the horrendous mistreatment of those who fight our wars.    

The full two-hour congressional hearing can be viewed here. CNN explained the scandal in this short video (WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES):