US money ended up in Taliban hands: Report

US govt funds to promote business in Afghanistan landed in Taliban hands, reports The Washington Post.

WASHINGTON:

US government funds allocated apparently to promote business in Afghanistan have landed in Taliban hands under $2.16 billion transportation contract, The Washington Post reported late Sunday.

Citing the results of a year-long military-led investigation, the newspaper said the US and Afghan efforts to address the problem have been slow and all eight of the trucking firms involved remains on the US payroll.

Moreover, the Pentagon extended the contract for six months last March, the report said.

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

According to The Post, investigators followed $7.4 million payment to one of the eight companies, which in turn paid a subcontractor, which hired other subcontractors to supply trucks. The trucking subcontractors then made deposits into an Afghan National Police commander’s account, already swollen with payments from other subcontractors, in exchange
for guarantees of safe passage for the convoys, the report said.

Intelligence officials then traced $3.3 million, withdrawn in 27 transactions from the commander’s account, that was transferred to insurgents in the form of weapons, explosives and cash, the paper said.

“This goes beyond our comprehension,” The Post quoted Representative John Tierney as saying.

Democrat Tierney 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, the paper said.





Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2011.

Correction: An earlier version of the article was running a headline which implied that the total amount of $2.16 billion ended up in Taliban hands. The correct headline has been added to the story.