Arms Sent by U.S. May Be Falling Into Taliban Hands

[Turborama]

Source: NYT

By C. J. CHIVERS -

KABUL — Insurgents in Afghanistan, fighting from some of the poorest and most remote regions on earth, have managed for years to maintain an intensive guerrilla war against materially superior American and Afghan forces.

Arms and ordnance collected from dead insurgents hint at one possible reason: Of 30 rifle magazines recently taken from insurgents’ corpses, at least 17 contained cartridges, or rounds, identical to ammunition the United States had provided to Afghan government forces, according to an examination of ammunition markings by The New York Times and interviews with American officers and arms dealers.

The presence of this ammunition among the dead in the Korangal Valley, an area of often fierce fighting near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan, strongly suggests that munitions procured by the Pentagon have leaked from Afghan forces for use against American troops.

The scope of that diversion remains unknown, and the 30 magazines represented a single sampling of fewer than 1,000 cartridges. But military officials, arms analysts and dealers say it points to a worrisome possibility: With only spotty American and Afghan controls on the vast inventory of weapons and ammunition sent into Afghanistan during an eight-year conflict, poor discipline and outright corruption among Afghan forces may have helped insurgents stay supplied. The United States has been criticized, as recently as February by the federal Government Accountability Office, for failing to account for thousands of rifles issued to Afghan security forces. Some of these weapons have been documented in insurgents’ hands, including weapons in a battle last year in which nine Americans died.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/world/asia/20ammo.html?ref=world

[saigon68]

1. outright corruption among Afghan forces

Not to mention the incompetence of our Puppet The mayor of kabul

[coalition_unwilling]

10. The same thing happened in Vietnam ca. 1954-64, acc.

to Col. John Paul Vann, as documented in Neil Sheehan's "A Bright Shining Lie." Acc. to Vann\Sheehan, the majority of Viet Minh weaponry came gratis a the US taxpayer, funneled through the forces of the corrupt puppet Diem regime.

Thus, then as now, the US was arming both sides, however unwittingly, in a civil war. Quelle surprise!

[Alcibiades]

2. They have been fighting since the 1980's

It would seem they are pretty good at this "insurgency" thing. And where are they getting the money to corrupt Afghan supply officers? Drugs, or Saudi Arabia, or both?

[Turborama]

3. Certainly the former, not sure about the latter.

Got anything recent on the Saudi's funding Afghanistan's Taliban? I'm intrigued...

[winter999]

9. Always makes me wonder what

kind of religion espouses the manufacture of drugs for money. Seems pretty damn evil to me.

[No Elephants]

11. Apparently, when God's on your side (or vice versa)--according to you, anyway-- the

end justifies anything and everything. That's why it's always prudent to make sure God is on your side before you start slaughtering folks.

[tclambert]

4. Good question--where is the Taliban getting weapons and ammunition?

That is always a key thing with insurgents. They don't have manufacturing capabilities. If you can cut them off from outside sources, you can deprive them of the means to fight. When the Russians were fighting in Afghanistan, WE supplied the insurgents. When we fought in Vietnam, the Russians supplied them.

In Iraq, our lack of troops to guard ammo dumps and weapons depots allowed Iraqi insurgents to gather up plenty of ammunition.

But WHO is supplying the Taliban?

This post suggests that indirectly, WE are.

[coalition_unwilling]

14. Actually, the reality in Vietnam is more complicated. From 1954-64,

the Viet Minh acquired many US weapons captured from the forces of the puppet regime of Diem (very similar to the outlines of this story). Only upon the entry of significant numbers of US combat forces in 1965 and consequent infiltration of NVA regulars to the South did logistics from Soviet Union and People's Republic of China play a significant role.

The Taliban is being supplied the same way the Viet Minh (pre-1964) were from arms and ammo captured or acquired from puppet forces.

[dipsydoodle]

5. Maybe

they can be bought on ebay.afghanistan. :shrug:

[peace_to_world]

6. I wonder what US is doing in Afghanistan!

[Dr.Phool]

7. One of the first rules of insurgent warfare.

Capture or steal as many of your opponents weapons as possible, and use them against him.

[ConcernedCanuk]

8. USA go home - problem solved. OH yeah, - get them Canuks back where they belong too . . .

.
.
.

enough of all this friendly fire bullshit and "collateral damage" slaughtering civilians already . .

Taliban can handle that part . .

[No Elephants]

12. No wonder wars cost us so much. We have to arm and equip all sides. Shouldn't

some heads at the Pentagon be rolling soon? Maybe that would help clear up at least the little problem of US troops stealing trucks, guns, etc. and selling them to the other side.

Got inventory?

[rocktivity]

13. Candidate for this year's "You Call This NEWS?" award

More weapons, more combat, more military-industrial complex profits. How else to keep the war machine turning?

:eyes:
rocktivity

[bemildred]

15. Is this some sort of stupid joke? What did they expect? nt