U.S. struggling to track Afghan weapons

[unhappycamper]

U.S. struggling to track Afghan weapons
By Anne Flaherty - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Feb 12, 2009 5:04:15 EST

WASHINGTON — The U.S. has been shoveling weapons into the hands of Afghan troops but doesn’t have a firm system in place or enough personnel to ensure they don’t wind up in the hands of Taliban fighters, according to an independent study.

The report, obtained by The Associated Press, comes as Kabul recovers from a devastating attack Wednesday by heavily armed militants. The fighters stormed three government buildings of the heavily fortified capital, killing 20 people and wounding 57 others.

Afghanistan officials said the eight attackers — armed with Kalashnikov rifles, grenades and explosive vests — died in the assault, bringing the death toll to 28.

In a study to be released on Thursday, the Government Accountability Office found that the U.S. shipped some 242,000 weapons to Afghanistan during a nearly four year period before June 2008. The weapons included rifles, pistols, machine guns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

Despite policies to the contrary, the Defense Department did not maintain a complete inventory on more than a third of those weapons, according to the GAO.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/02/ap_afghan_weapons_021109/%2e

[Enthusiast]

1. Weapons producers could care

less. They only want their massive profits and they are getting it.