{"id":9744,"date":"2011-07-24T02:07:25","date_gmt":"2011-07-24T02:07:25","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-07-24T02:07:25","modified_gmt":"2011-07-24T02:07:25","slug":"US-money-ended-up-in-Taliban-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=9744","title":{"rendered":"US money ended up in Taliban hands"},"content":{"rendered":"

US government funds earmarked ostensibly to promote business in Afghanistan have landed in Taliban hands under a US$2.16 billion transportation contract<\/strong>, The Washington Post reported last night.<\/p>\n

Citing the results of a year-long military-led investigation, the newspaper said US and Afghan efforts to address the problem have been slow, and all eight of the trucking firms involved remain on US payroll.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Moreover, the Pentagon extended the contract for six months last March<\/strong>, the report said.<\/p>\n

The investigation found “documented, credible evidence … of involvement in a criminal enterprise or support for the enemy” by four of the eight prime contractors<\/strong>, the paper noted. <\/p>\n

According to The Post, investigators followed a US$7.4 million payment to one of the eight companies<\/strong>, which in turn paid a subcontractor, which hired other subcontractors to supply trucks.<\/p>\n

The trucking subcontractors then made deposits into an Afghan National Police commander’s account<\/strong>, already swollen with payments from other subcontractors, in exchange for guarantees of safe passage for the convoys, the report said. <\/p>\n

Intelligence officials then traced US$3.3 million, withdrawn in 27 transactions from the commander’s account<\/strong>, that was transferred to insurgents in the form of weapons, explosives and cash, the paper said. <\/p>\n

“This goes beyond our comprehension,” The Post quoted Representative John Tierney as saying.<\/p>\n

Tierney, a Democrat, was chairman of a House oversight subcommittee that charged that the military was, in effect, supporting a vast protection racket that paid insurgents and corrupt middlemen to ensure safe passage of the truck convoys that move US military supplies across Afghanistan<\/strong>, the paper said.<\/p>\n

Source AFP<\/em>
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