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Pentagon Accused of Wasting Up to $28M on Afghan Army Camouflage
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR — a military agency set up by Congress that audits U.S. spending in Afghanistan in its recent report says, the Pentagon has authorized an apparently unsuitable fashion choice for Afghan soldiers — one that has cost U.S. taxpayers as much as $28 million.
“They picked the pattern based on a fashion preference, not by experts, but by the minister of defense,” said John F. Sopko, the special inspector general. “That was a dumb decision.”
By 2007, six years after the United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan, the ragtag soldiers of the Afghan Army wore a hodgepodge of uniforms. The United States and its allies have spent millions on overhauling and training Afghanistan’s security forces. Purchasing matching uniforms was one expense.
Afghanistan Ministry of Defense considered SEGAR’s report a historical issue and said investigations are underway.
“The Ministry of Defense will present report about this issue, but this issue relates to the past time. We only heard this issue but our investigations are ongoing to find the fact,” said Muhammad Radmanish, deputy spokesman of MoD.
Lack of accountability from global assistances to Afghanistan is one of the main factors for corruption among security forces.
NATO officers have, however, been trying to move the Afghan army to overhaul its logistics with new computerized systems and more timely reporting from the field that would enable unusual patterns of ammunition use to be spotted more quickly.
NATO officials say the system, while relatively simple, makes it harder to see when supplies are misused. Instead, they are working to have frontline units “pull” in supplies through requests to headquarters, which must track and forecast the needs of its subordinate units.
Pakistan’s government on Friday extended the stay of Afghan refugees in the country till June 30, amid repatriation of illegal foreign nationals.
There are around 1.3 million registered Afghans living in Pakistan, according to a spokesman for UN refugee agency UNHCR in Islamabad, Dawn newspaper reported.
“On the recommendation of the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions, the federal cabinet approved the extension of the validity of PoR cards of Afghan refugees from April 1, 2024, to June 30, 2024,” said an official statement, issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.
The PoR cardholders will be repatriated in the third phase of the plan that will begin after the repatriation of “illegal foreign nationals” residing in Pakistan is completed, the statement added.
The PoR card holders avail schools, bank accounts and other facilities in Pakistan.
Repatriation of undocumented refugees began on November 1 and continues. More than 500,000 Afghans have been expelled so far.
John Bass, US acting under secretary of state for political affairs, will travel to Qatar and Pakistan April 26-30, US State Department announced on Friday.
In Doha, Qatar, he will meet with senior Qatari government officials and other diplomatic missions to discuss support for Afghanistan and shared security interests in the region, US State Department said in a statement.
In Islamabad, Pakistan, Under Secretary Bass will meet with senior Pakistani government officials to discuss a range of regional and bilateral issues as part of the U.S.-Pakistani partnership, the statement added.
John Bass served as US ambassador to Afghanistan under Donald Trump administration between December 2017 and January 2020.
A tripartite meeting between the delegations of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan was held in Kabul with the aim of connecting North Asia to South Asia and reducing transit and transportation costs among these three countries, the Ministry of Trade and Commerce said in a statement.
In this meeting, an agreement was reached on the creation of a joint technical committee to continue the talks.
This tripartite meeting was held under the leadership of Nooruddin Azizi, the Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce, Vice President of Turkmenistan and Srik Zhumangarin, the Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan.
Earlier, a bilateral meeting was held between the delegation of the Islamic Emirate and Turkmenistan. The ministry of commerce said the participants of the meeting discussed the construction of a large joint logistics center in Torghondi, the trilateral transit agreement between the IEA, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan, the expansion of Afghanistan’s railway, solving issues related to Afghan transit and export goods, and a number of other commercial issues.
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