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American Weapons Lost in Afghanistan: SIGAR
Tuesday, 29 July 2014 19:33 Last Updated on Tuesday, 29 July 2014 19:49 Written by Shakila Ebrahimkhail
The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) in a recent report claimed that some 747,000 weapons provided by the U.S. to equip the Afghan security forces have been lost.
The weapons, which included mostly light and heavy firearms, according to the SIGAR report, were provided for the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the Afghan National Army (ANP). However, U.S. defense officials have reportedly failed to effectively track the weapons, and experts suspect many of them may have fallen in the hands of criminals and militants.
The Afghan Ministry of Interior (MoI) has said that the weapons that have been provided to the Afghan forces by the U.S. are all logged in a database at the Ministry, which could be the starting place for trying to trace their whereabouts.
"The weapons and the equipment exist in the database of the Ministry of Interior since they were offered and the MoI is responsible for them," MoI spokesman Najibullah Danish said.
Meanwhile, Parliament's Commission on Internal Security and Defense has maintained that the U.S. is responsible for the weapons and equipment it donates. Members of the commission have said Washington armed irresponsible individuals in the initial days of its mission in Afghanistan.
"The fact is that the weapons weren't distributed properly and they were provided directly and personally to the individuals, which means that they weren't distributed through legal means with registration," said Mir Dad Khan Nejrabi, the head of the parliamentary commission.
Military analysts fear many of the weapons that the U.S. has flooded Afghanistan with have fallen into the hands of militants and criminal networks. They believe the issue has further worsened Afghanistan's security situation.
"Recently, the U.S. is responsible for this, because it provided the weapons without proper calculation and registration to irresponsible individuals and the U.S. must be answerable for it now," military expert Atiqullah Amarkhail told TOLOnews.
The SIGAR report says handguns, automatics and some other types of weapons have been provided by the U.S. since 2004. Some 626 million dollars worth of weapons are estimated to have been lost.
More specifically, the SIGAR report says the Pentagon has provided tens of thousands of AK-47s and similar weapons that have likely ended up in the hands of the Taliban and other militant groups.
In the lead up to NATO's withdraw in December SIGAR, along with the governments of coalition's member countries all together, have begun taking serious stock of the mark they will leave behind in Afghanistan. Although the U.S. continues to provide weaponry and equipment to the Afghan forces, the flow of provisions has dramatically decreased.
Tuesday, 29 July 2014 19:33 Last Updated on Tuesday, 29 July 2014 19:49 Written by Shakila Ebrahimkhail
The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) in a recent report claimed that some 747,000 weapons provided by the U.S. to equip the Afghan security forces have been lost.
The weapons, which included mostly light and heavy firearms, according to the SIGAR report, were provided for the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the Afghan National Army (ANP). However, U.S. defense officials have reportedly failed to effectively track the weapons, and experts suspect many of them may have fallen in the hands of criminals and militants.
The Afghan Ministry of Interior (MoI) has said that the weapons that have been provided to the Afghan forces by the U.S. are all logged in a database at the Ministry, which could be the starting place for trying to trace their whereabouts.
"The weapons and the equipment exist in the database of the Ministry of Interior since they were offered and the MoI is responsible for them," MoI spokesman Najibullah Danish said.
Meanwhile, Parliament's Commission on Internal Security and Defense has maintained that the U.S. is responsible for the weapons and equipment it donates. Members of the commission have said Washington armed irresponsible individuals in the initial days of its mission in Afghanistan.
"The fact is that the weapons weren't distributed properly and they were provided directly and personally to the individuals, which means that they weren't distributed through legal means with registration," said Mir Dad Khan Nejrabi, the head of the parliamentary commission.
Military analysts fear many of the weapons that the U.S. has flooded Afghanistan with have fallen into the hands of militants and criminal networks. They believe the issue has further worsened Afghanistan's security situation.
"Recently, the U.S. is responsible for this, because it provided the weapons without proper calculation and registration to irresponsible individuals and the U.S. must be answerable for it now," military expert Atiqullah Amarkhail told TOLOnews.
The SIGAR report says handguns, automatics and some other types of weapons have been provided by the U.S. since 2004. Some 626 million dollars worth of weapons are estimated to have been lost.
More specifically, the SIGAR report says the Pentagon has provided tens of thousands of AK-47s and similar weapons that have likely ended up in the hands of the Taliban and other militant groups.
In the lead up to NATO's withdraw in December SIGAR, along with the governments of coalition's member countries all together, have begun taking serious stock of the mark they will leave behind in Afghanistan. Although the U.S. continues to provide weaponry and equipment to the Afghan forces, the flow of provisions has dramatically decreased.
