Taliban Profiting from U.S. Military Contracts
According to a report from GlobalPost, military procurement contracts are filtering via local contractors to the Taliban. In effect, the local population is paying a protection fee to the Taliban with Pentagon funding.
A variety of local Afghan vendors are paid around $800 million a year by the U.S. to supply the Afghan police and military with items ranging from gas and water to winter socks and tires, and the Taliban reportedly extract between 10 and 20 percent of the fees.
"In a country where the rule of law is more a distant dream than a present reality, giving the Taliban a cut of the funding is not seen as treason — it is merely expedient," wrote GlobalPost's Jean MacKenzie.
CBS News Special Report:
Afghanistan: The Road Ahead
According to one Afghan contractor cited in the article, there isn't much of an alternative to paying off the Taliban.
"That is the way things happen," he said. "It is not easy to start with nothing and then create a functioning infrastructure; some latitude is required. But this 'don't ask don't tell' policy has evolved to such an extent that Taliban funding is fully baked into the system. It stands to reason that the insurgency can now forecast revenue and accurately budget for combat resources based on lucrative contracts from the U.S. military, which were intended to rebuild their war-torn country."
Read the full article at GlobalPost
See also: Life, Death and the Taliban, a GlobalPost special report