US allegedly paying Afghan warlords: report

By Li Jing

The US is allegedly paying protection to Afghanistan warlords, indirectly channeling tens of millions of dollars to the Taliban to ensure the safe passage of supply convoys across the country, according to congressional investigators.

A US congressional committee was expected to hear the evidence from the investigation from senior officials at the US Department of Defense later Tuesday, the BBC said.

A report released Monday said that the security arrangements, part of a $2.16 billion transport contract, not only violated laws on the use of private contractors, and defense department regulations, but "dramatically undermined" US objectives of curtailing corruption and strengthening governance in Afghanistan, the Washington Post reported.

"This arrangement has fueled a vast protection racket run by a shadowy network of warlords, strongmen, commanders, corrupt Afghan officials, and perhaps others," Reuters Tuesday quoted representative John Tierney, chairman of a House of Representatives national security subcommittee, as saying in a statement.

Meanwhile, the report by the subcommittee's Democratic staff called protection payments "a significant potential source of funding for the Taliban."

"The protection payment issue, as a mitigation measure to confront the current security situation, will not be completely rooted out, if the unrest in Afghanistan continues," Yin Gang, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

Liu Jun, an expert at the Institute of International Relations of Yunnan University, said that the dilemma for the international community in anti-terrorism efforts also adds to the arrogance of the protection payment issue.

Furthermore, "revenue for the Taliban has severely shrunk as the US military and Afghanistan government have jointly cracked down on drug trafficking, a significant source of income for the Taliban, leading to an increase in the amount demanded in protection payment," Yin added.

Meanwhile, many contractors said that warlords were demanding protection payments in exchange for safe passage and those payments were funding the insurgency, the report said. But the contractors' concerns were never appropriately addressed.

It faulted the Pentagon for a lack of effective oversight of the supply chain and private security contractors, Reuters reported.