Reuters: U.S. indirectly funding Afghan warlords: House report

The U.S. is indirectly paying tens of millions of dollars in protection money to Afghan warlords, and potentially to the Taliban, to secure convoys carrying supplies to U.S. troops in Afghanistan, congressional investigators said in a report.

The Pentagon has a system of outsourcing the task of moving supplies in Afghanistan to private companies and leaving those companies to provide their own security. While this frees up U.S. troops for other purposes, the practice has unintended consequences.

The report said many contractors told U.S. military officials that warlords were demanding protection payments in exchange for safe passage and that these payments were funding the insurgency but the contractors concerns were never appropriately addressed. The report faults the Pentagon for a lack of effective oversight of its supply chain and private security contractors.

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