US convoys suspected of paying Taleban
WASHINGTON - Congress is investigating allegations that American tax dollars are being paid to warlords and the Taleban for security on supply routes used to truck food, water, fuel and ammunition to United States troops in Afghanistan.
If the allegations are true, then the US would be unintentionally involved in a protection racket and indirectly financing the enemy, Representative John Tierney, the Massachusetts Democrat leading the inquiry, said yesterday.
Bribes and kickbacks are frequently used to do business there, raising worries among many Democrats on Capitol Hill that the US investment will fall short of stabilising Afghanistan's shaky Government.
Tierney is seeking documents from the Defence Department and companies connected to a US$2.1 billion ($3 billion) contract to transport goods through Pakistan to Bagram Airfield, the US military's main hub in Afghanistan.
From Bagram, the supplies are distributed to several hundred smaller camps and bases spread throughout the country.
Tierney said his staff has been told by credible informants that security guards hired by the trucking companies funnel money to local warlords or the Taleban to ensure the convoys get to their destinations unscathed.
"It's protection money," said Tierney, who heads the House Oversight and Government Reform national security subcommittee. "Early indications are payments are either made as a lump sum for a period of time, or payment per container."
Multiple layers of subcontractors are often used in these transactions, making it difficult to follow the trail of cash, Tierney added. The Defence Department had no immediate response to Tierney's investigation.
At a December 2 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged the long, rugged supply lines to landlocked Afghanistan through Pakistan's port city of Karachi offer numerous opportunities for corruption that pads the Taleban's accounts
WASHINGTON - Congress is investigating allegations that American tax dollars are being paid to warlords and the Taleban for security on supply routes used to truck food, water, fuel and ammunition to United States troops in Afghanistan.
If the allegations are true, then the US would be unintentionally involved in a protection racket and indirectly financing the enemy, Representative John Tierney, the Massachusetts Democrat leading the inquiry, said yesterday.
Bribes and kickbacks are frequently used to do business there, raising worries among many Democrats on Capitol Hill that the US investment will fall short of stabilising Afghanistan's shaky Government.
Tierney is seeking documents from the Defence Department and companies connected to a US$2.1 billion ($3 billion) contract to transport goods through Pakistan to Bagram Airfield, the US military's main hub in Afghanistan.
From Bagram, the supplies are distributed to several hundred smaller camps and bases spread throughout the country.
Tierney said his staff has been told by credible informants that security guards hired by the trucking companies funnel money to local warlords or the Taleban to ensure the convoys get to their destinations unscathed.
"It's protection money," said Tierney, who heads the House Oversight and Government Reform national security subcommittee. "Early indications are payments are either made as a lump sum for a period of time, or payment per container."
Multiple layers of subcontractors are often used in these transactions, making it difficult to follow the trail of cash, Tierney added. The Defence Department had no immediate response to Tierney's investigation.
At a December 2 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged the long, rugged supply lines to landlocked Afghanistan through Pakistan's port city of Karachi offer numerous opportunities for corruption that pads the Taleban's accounts
