United Front Intl
No Result
View All Result
Tuesday, February 7, 2023
  • Login
  • Register
  • Home
  • US
  • World
  • Politics
  • Coronavirus
  • Videos
  • Be in the Know
  • ShopNew
Contact us
United Front Intl
  • Home
  • US
  • World
  • Politics
  • Coronavirus
  • Videos
  • Be in the Know
  • ShopNew

No products in the cart.

No Result
View All Result
United Front Intl
No Result
View All Result
Home World

Afghanistan’s ghost soldiers undermined fight against Taliban – ex-official

Afghanistan's ex-finance minister has blamed the government's fall on corrupt officials who invented "ghost soldiers" and took payments from the Taliban.

by admin
November 10, 2021
in World
Afghanistan’s ghost soldiers undermined fight against Taliban – ex-official

Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in August LOS ANGELES TIMES VIA GETTY

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

BBC News

Khalid Payenda told the BBC that most of the 300,000 troops and police on the government’s books did not exist.

He said phantom personnel were added to official lists so that generals could pocket their wages.

The Taliban rapidly seized control of Afghanistan in August, as US forces withdrew after 20 years in the country.

Mr Payenda, who resigned and left Afghanistan as the Islamist group advanced, said records showing that security forces greatly outnumbered the Taliban were incorrect.

“The way the accountability was done, you would ask the chief in that province how many people you have and based on that you could calculate salaries and ration expenses and they would always be inflated,” he told Ed Butler, presenter of the BBC’s Business Daily programme.

The former minister said the numbers may have been inflated by more than six times, and included “desertions [and] martyrs who were never accounted for because some of the commanders would keep their bank cards” and withdraw their salaries, he alleged.

There have long been questions over Afghan troop numbers.

A 2016 report by the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (Sigar) claimed that “neither the United States nor its Afghan allies know how many Afghan soldiers and police actually exist, how many are in fact available for duty, or, by extension, the true nature of their operational capabilities”.

In a more recent report, Sigar expressed “serious concerns about the corrosive effects of corruption… and the questionable accuracy of data on the actual strength of the force”.

Mr Payenda said that troops who did exist were often not paid on time, while there were leaders of government-backed militias who were “double-dipping” – taking their government wage, and then also accepting payments from the Taliban to give up without a fight.

“The whole feeling was, we cannot change this. This is how the parliament works, this is how the governors work. Everybody would say the stream is murky from the very top, meaning the very top is involved in this,” he said.

He said he did not think former President Ashraf Ghani was “financially corrupt”. Responding to accusations of corruption within the finance ministry, Mr Payenda said: “I agree with that to a certain extent but in these issues, absolutely not.”

He added that the West was “part of” some of the failures in Afghanistan, and described the US and Nato’s involvement in the country as “a great opportunity lost”.

Related

ShareTweetSendSend

Related Posts

India: The Modi Question
Videos

India: The Modi Question

January 26, 2023
What is known about new Covid variant XBB.1.5?
Coronavirus

What is known about new Covid variant XBB.1.5?

January 17, 2023
Argentina vs. France: MINI-MOVIE of 2022 FIFA World Cup final
Videos

Argentina vs. France: MINI-MOVIE of 2022 FIFA World Cup final

December 20, 2022
British royal aide resigns over racist remarks
Videos

British royal aide resigns over racist remarks

December 1, 2022
Ble Goude returns to Ivory Coast after 11 years in exile
World

Ble Goude returns to Ivory Coast after 11 years in exile

November 27, 2022
US President Joe Biden speaks at COP27 climate summit
Videos

US President Joe Biden speaks at COP27 climate summit

November 11, 2022

My Cart

No Content Available

Categories

  • Be in the Know
  • Coronavirus
  • Politics
  • US
  • Videos
  • World

UnitedFrontIntl Store

My Account & Ordering
Cart
Checkout
Track My Order
Refund and Returns Policy
Privacy Policy
FAQs

Site Navigation

  • Home
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • About Us
  • Shipping Policy

Links

CNBC
Reuters

The New York Times
The Washington Post


Your tax-deductible gift is vital and will help us fund and maintain our website to bring you current news and information on a daily basis. Thank you in advance.

© 2022 United Front Intl

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • US
  • World
  • Politics
  • Coronavirus
  • Videos
  • Be in the Know
  • Contact Us
  • Advertisement
  • Shop

© 2022 United Front Intl

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In