US 'lost track of Afghan weapons'

[kpete]

Source: BBC News

US 'lost track of Afghan weapons'

The US military has failed to keep track of thousands of weapons shipped to Afghanistan, leaving them vulnerable to being lost or stolen, a report says.

The report has been compiled by congressional auditors, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO).

It found that, in the four years up to June 2008, the US military failed to keep complete records on some 222,000 weapons entering the country.

The report will be discussed in the US House of Representatives on Thursday.

It states that weapons supplied by the US to the Afghan military "are at serious risk of theft or loss".

The report says:

* US military officials failed to keep proper records on about 87,000 rifles, pistols, mortars and other weapons sent to Afghanistan between December 2004 and June 2008 - about a third of all the weapons sent
* There was a similar lack of management of a further 135,000 light weapons donated to Afghan forces via the US military by 21 countries
* The military failed even to record the serial numbers of some 46,000 weapons, making it impossible to confirm receipt of weapons or identify any which had fallen into the hands of militants
* The serial numbers of 41,000 weapons were recorded, but US military officials still had no idea where they were

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7885533.stm?a

[UpInArms]

1. how handy!

:sarcasm:

[peacetalksforall]

2. Is Blackwater in Afghanistan? Serious q..

[balantz]

6. They sure are in Afghanistan:

- clip -

Hold on a second here. So a private contractor raided the offices of a rival private contractor and stole its records? Who gave it the authority to pretend it was the FBI? Is the USAID suddenly a law enforcement agency? Or did Blackwater do this on its own to get rid of a competitor? Either way, there’s no possible excuse for its actions.

But we’re not done yet. sarabeth, curious, did some more digging and came up with another AP story that added a fairly startling detail: units of the Afghan police provided security for Blackwater during the raid.

Afghan police provided security for the raid on the company, according to Paktiawal, and the U.S. official said Blackwater security teams took computers and office files. Two Afghan workers were taken into custody, and Blackwater held American and Canadian citizens at gunpoint, the official said.

What the hell is going on here? A private security company not only raids a rival and seizes its assets but it arrests two civilian Afghan workers and holds American and Canadian citizens at gunpoint? While the Afghan police protect them?

- clip -

http://commentsfromleftfield.com/2007/10/blackwater-assumes-police-powers-in-afghanistan-to-eliminate-rivals

[Alcibiades]

3. So, how do you stabilize Afghanistan?

I know, let's ship them lots of weapons and fail to keep track of them!

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Deja vu! We only lost 30% of all the weapons sent to Iraq! That only cost us about $2.8 billion.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/05/AR2007080501299_pf.html

[Dr.Phool]

5. At least we didn't lose any nukes!

I hope.

[GreenTea]

7. Incompetent BushCo criminals weapons selling greedy fucks - selling to both sides to keep

the fighting going for profit in the war for profit!!

[underpants]

8. And we are supposed to damn the Peanut guy for what HE did with his inventory

right?

[Proletariatprincess]

9. Dysfunctional, incompetent, corrupt.

The entire military operations of the USA from defense spending to operations in the field are out of control and the most dangerous institution in the world.
Scary as hell..

[Wizard777]

10. Time for Obama to back Gates into a corner and not let him out until it's accounted for.

So of course this meeting will not occur in the Oval Office.

:rofl:

Sorry I couldn't resist adding the punchline. :blush: