Obama arming the Taliban

[NorthernVike 2,080]

http://news.msn.com/us/lost-in-afghanistan-us-cant-track-weapons-it-sends

 

 

 

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has shipped Afghan security forces tens of thousands of excessive AK-47 assault rifles and other weapons since 2004 and many have gone missing, raising concerns that they've fallen into the hands of Taliban or other insurgents.

John F. Sipko, the U.S. special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, found in a report released Monday that shoddy record-keeping by the Defense Department, the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police has contributed to the failure to track the small arms.

The Pentagon is still sending Afghanistan weapons based on its peak 2012 levels of army and police personnel, even as those numbers have declined, Sipko found.

"The scheduled reduction in Afghan National Security Force personnel to 228,500 by 2017 is likely to result in an even greater number of excess weapons," the report said. "Yet DOD continues to provide ANSF with weapons based on the (2012) ANSF force strength of 352,000 and has no plans to stop providing weapons to ANSF."

Congress has made the Pentagon responsible for tracking all U.S. small weapons and auxiliary equipment sent to Afghanistan, which have totaled 747,000 rifles, pistols, machine guns, grenade launchers and shotguns worth $626 million since 2004.

"However, controls over the accountability of small arms provided to the Afghanistan National Security Forces are insufficient both before and after the weapons are transferred," Sipko concluded in the report.

The Pentagon said in response to the audit that it has no authority to compel the Afghan government to perform a complete small-weapons inventory as Sipko recommended, and that the Afghanistan government, not the United States, is responsible for determining whether there are excessive weapons.

"The DOD does not have the authority to recover or destroy Afghan weapons," Michael J. Dumont, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, wrote to Sipko in response to his findings.

Thomas Gouttierre, director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska in Omaha, said he wasn't surprised by Sipko's findings of loose weapons in the war-torn nation. A former strategic adviser to U.S. commanders in Afghanistan, he has visited there more than a dozen times since the U.S. invasion in October 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Gouttierre said the issue of missing weapons is part of a larger problem in which billions of dollars in U.S. aid to Afghanistan has been siphoned off by waste, corruption and mismanagement.

"It's very evident to me that our government has been looking the other way for a long time," Gouttierre said. "Everything after 2003 was Iraq-focused. In Afghanistan, we kind of threw money at programs without any real supervision that would be required of something this massive."

The current U.S. drawdown from Afghanistan will see most American troops gone this year, with the last combat brigades scheduled to leave by the end of 2016. Inspectors working for Sipko found missing weapons during visits between May 2013 and June 2014 to four central weapons depots in Afghanistan belonging to the army or the police.

During a visit to the central supply depot of the Afghan National Army, which is "managed by Afghans with the assistance of U.S. advisers," the depot's records showed it as possessing 939 M-16 rifles, but the inspectors could find only 199.

The Pentagon has supplied 83,184 more AK-47s to Afghan security forces than they have said are needed, the U.S. inspectors found.

"Without confidence in the Afghan government's ability to account for or properly dispose of these weapons, SIGAR is concerned that they could be obtained by insurgents and pose additional risks to Afghan civilians and the Afghan National Security Forces," the report said.

A primary cause of the overall problem is that the Defense Department uses one information system to record weapons sent from the United States but employs a separate digital system to track weapons as they arrive in Afghanistan.

The two systems are riddled with inconsistencies and redundancies, the audit found.

To make matters worse, the Afghan National Army uses yet another tracking system, which relies on automated inventory management, and the Afghan National Police has no standard accounting system.

"The Afghan National Police uses a combination of hard-copy documents, handwritten records and some Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to maintain inventory records," Sipko's report said.

 

 

 

 

 

[Eaglesin14 12]

Something has to be done with the guns left over from Fast and Furious.

[tanatastic 2,061]

well duh, anyone with their eyes open knows that we arm and train most of the worlds terrorists. Obama tho has nothing to do with it. The president is just a figurehead with no real power. Who runs the country are the pharmacy and ciggarette companies along with the oil people.

[Eaglesin14 12]

well duh, anyone with their eyes open knows that we arm and train most of the worlds terrorists. Obama tho has nothing to do with it. The president is just a figurehead with no real power. Who runs the country are the pharmacy and ciggarette companies along with the oil people.

CVS or Walgreens?

[NewbieJr 540]

I haven't been around much. Is this Eaglesin moron a new idiot or RP's latest incarnation?

[OldMaid 1,838]

I haven't been around much. Is this Eaglesin moron a new idiot or RP's latest incarnation?

Only time will tell. I'm trying to be optimistic... but it isn't looking good.

[hoytdwow 202]

So it was cool in the 70s, but not now

[Voltaire 4,560]

I haven't been around much. Is this Eaglesin moron a new idiot or RP's latest incarnation?

Pretty similar huh? We just can't seem to catch a break from the 'Obummer is responsible for me getting drunk and totaling my car' threads can we.

 

Everything is always Obummer's fault.

 

We don't know about eaglesin14 yet. Fantasy Football season is starting so it's not unusual to get new members and this guy may just be a fellow traveler. For the record, I don't think RP would choose a user name with a pro-Eagles theme. So roll with 'no' for now.

[Voltaire 4,560]

So it was cool in the 70s, but not now

When the Soviets were in Afghanistan it was cool to arm the Taliban. If Osama bin Laden's kidney trouble had kicked in way back then, he could have asked the CIA to get him an appointment at the Mayo Clinic. As far as now, no.

 

In other news, whenever the military loses track of supplies, just like if the post office loses a package, it's always painted around here as Obummer's fault.

[NewbieJr 540]

For the record, I don't think RP would choose a user name with a pro-Eagles theme. So roll with 'no' for now.

Well, let's not forget, his Googleballz alias remained a mystery for all of about 45 minutes. Perhaps he thought that using 'eagles' would throw everyone off the trail for an extra hour or two. We're dealing with RP here. Not exactly a master with his thoughts.

[edjr 5,567]

 

 

We don't know about eaglesin14 yet. Fantasy Football season is starting so it's not unusual to get new members and this guy may just be a fellow traveler. For the record, I don't think RP would choose a user name with a pro-Eagles theme. So roll with 'no' for now.

 

he is a big fan of the bald headed eagle and is hoping for them to make a big comeback in 2014

[Frank M 181]

I haven't been around much. Is this Eaglesin moron a new idiot or RP's latest incarnation?

 

It seems interesting that a rookie is only posting on the Geek Bored.

[drobeski 3,061]

Ex-Embassy Security Officer In Libya: "The Taliba:

[NorthernVike 2,080]

The bored libs can't argue the OP so they change the topic to something else. Typical.

[OldMaid 1,838]

It seems interesting that a rookie is only posting on the Geek Bored.

Nah, he had some posts on the mange bored. He was also up awfully late for RP. This one might actually be Sux.

[NewbieJr 540]

The bored libs can't argue the OP so they change the topic to something else. Typical.

What do you care? It's the most replies you've ever gotten to a thread you started. Don't question why.

[Frank M 181]

Nah, he had some posts on the mange bored. He was also up awfully late for RP. This one might actually be Sux.

 

He seems a little too good at the semantics game to be the kat focker.

 

Not saying Sux is dumb......well, actually, I guess I am.

[Sho Nuff 719]

The bored libs can't argue the OP so they change the topic to something else. Typical.

 

You mean how he is doing it indirectly through them taking the weapons...I guess better than how we armed them directly the first time.

 

Psst...we are constantly arming people around the world. Quite often our weapons end up in bad places.

There is nothing to defend "Obama" for...nor to really bash other than our policy of how we end up arming places and not doing very well in securing the weapons to ensure them from landing in the wrong hands.

 

But if you want a 10 page thread crying about Obama...have it it chief.

[Eaglesin14 12]

he is a big fan of the bald headed eagle and is hoping for them to make a big comeback in 2014

Is the "bald headed eagle" related to the bald eagle?