U.S. Contractors Employed Taliban

[unhappycamper]

U.S. soldiers search Afghan men working for a private security firm escorting truck convoys, after they found illegal weapons in their vehicle, in a village near Kandahar.


U.S. Contractors Employed Taliban
By NATHAN HODGE
OCTOBER 8, 2010

WASHINGTON—A yearlong investigation by a Senate panel has found evidence that the mostly Afghan force of private security guards the U.S. military depends on to protect supply convoys and bases in Afghanistan is rife with criminals, drug users and insurgents.

The Senate Armed Services Committee inquiry, based on interviews with dozens of military commanders and contractors and a review of over 125 Pentagon security contracts, found evidence of "untrained guards, insufficient and unserviceable weapons, unmanned posts" and other failings that put U.S. troops at risk.

More alarming, the report alleges that some local warlords who have emerged as key labor brokers for private security firms are also Taliban agents.

Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich.), the chairman of the committee, said failures to adequately vet private security contractors in Afghanistan poses "grave risks" to U.S. and allied troops. The overall lack of proper contractor supervision, he added, poses a fundamental threat to the U.S. mission.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered that all security firms in Afghanistan be dissolved by the end of the year, though that process has only just begun. Coalition officials have supported the effort because of concerns about the private forces, but say the alternative—the Afghan police—isn't yet competent enough to take over the job.



unhappycamper comment: So the Democratic Congress has been looking at all the 'progress' we've been making and tells us we still can't supervise contractors? And that my tax dollars are paying some Taliban for 'protection'? And that the "private security guards the U.S. military depends on to protect supply convoys and bases in Afghanistan is rife with criminals, drug users and insurgents"?

Are there any congresscritters still awake?

Why are we still there?

[SpiralHawk]

1. Gack ...

Double gack.

Clusterf*ck city.

[w8liftinglady]

2. If this isn't a sign we need to leave,what the hell is?