Investigation Reveals US Taxpayer Money Went To Taliban

An unreleased, military-led investigation found that United States funds, provided in part to promote Afghan businesses, were actually directed to the Taliban. The funds were provided under a $2.16 billion transportation contract.
“Yet U.S. and Afghan efforts to address the problem have been slow and ineffective, and all eight of the trucking firms involved in the work remain on U.S. payroll,” read an article for The Washington Post, which obtained a summary of the investigation. “(T)he military found ‘documented, credible evidence… of involvement in a criminal enterprise or support for the enemy’ by four of the eight prime contractors,” and “Six of the eight companies chosen as prime contractors under the Host Nation Trucking contract are owned by Afghans or are joint Afghan-international ventures.”
“This goes beyond our comprehension,” Representative John F. Tierney (D-Mass.) told the newspaper.
The article reported that, according to an unnamed senior defense official, a revised transport system will replace the current Host Nation Trucking contract when it expires in September, and it “will require detailed information on all subcontractors and supervision by military units in the field rather than headquarters-based contracting officers.”