“He gets it done,” Maj. Fred Tanner, 1st Squadron operations officer, said of Kahn. “He has 500 guys on the Afghan government payroll but he can call on about 1,500.”
Ginty said Kahn spends some of the money he makes on supplying his men.
“It’s frustrating when the contractors have these big forts and no issues with weapons and manning, and the government forces are withering on the vine,” Ginty said, adding that police logistical problems don’t help recruitment efforts.
The answer is for the U.S. military to partner with the ANP at provincial level or higher to make sure staff is getting equipment out to units in the field, he said.
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Nothing new here either. Of course these weapons were sold by Afghan government officials. What else could have happened to them? Like they magically disappeared into thin air or Afghan gremlins took them from armories or from sleeping soldiers? Ha! I guarantee that these weapons are in the hands of the Taliban or PSC’s, because we actually trusted that the Afghans could be responsible with this stuff. It also makes me sick to think that US and Coalition forces have probably been killed by these weapons.
You know, there are so many ways out there for us to insert some accountability into this system. For one, we can actually be in charge of the weapons, and not the Afghans. Or whomever in the Afghan government is tasked with weapons procurement and management of the logistics system is, we put a mentor right next too him as part of the conditions of this ‘weapons and equipment gift package’. We are giving them these weapons for free and it should be within our right to watch over the whole process. Trust, but verify.
Probably the best part of this whole article though was the mention of how well Afghan contractor companies are able to equip and arm their security contractors. I chuckled, because of course private industry is better at watching this stuff than government. The CEO only benefits if his contractors do well on the contract and out performs the enemy and the company’s competitors. To do well and maintain their lead in the industry, they need capable and well paid men, functional weapons, plenty of ammunition and good equipment/vehicles/uniforms–the same things that governments need and should care about.
I wouldn’t doubt that these companies probably bought some of these black market weapons for contracts. Why wouldn’t they? I would rather see a private company get them who at least can provide services to our side, than have the Taliban get them and kill troops. Too bad the Afghan government could care less about taking care of their own troops and defeating the Taliban, and more about lining their pockets. –Matt
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U.S. trying to track missing weapons issued to Afghan police
By SETH ROBSON
September 11, 2010
Soldiers with the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment patrol alongside Afghan National Police in Kandahar province.
TIRIN KOT, Afghanistan — A massive hunt is on for tens of thousands of rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers that the U.S. government procured for the Afghan National Police but are unaccounted for, according to the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan.
“There have been discrepancies in the number of weapons the Afghans say they have and the number of weapons issued,” U.S. Air Force Maj. Lindsay Logsdon, a public affairs officer with NTM-A, said in an e-mail Wednesday.
According to Logsdon, the Department of Defense procured more than 72,400 AK-47s, as well as heavy machine guns and RPG launchers for Afghan police. Coalition forces are attempting to track exactly where the weapons are — amid allegations by the military and others that some police weapons may have ended up in the hands of the Taliban.
Logsdon did not provide details on how many weapons have been tracked. She said there are weapons and equipment shortages at Afghan police units all over the country, but that the extent of the problem is unclear.
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