KABUL: (MEP) Karim Atal, head of the provincial council in Helmand said the United States is spending billions of dollars on Afghanistan’s “ghost soldiers,” who only exist only on paper.
“At checkpoints where 20 soldiers should be present, there are only eight or 10,” Karim Atal, told AP.
In other cases, dead soldiers and police remain listed among active participants, while senior police or army officials pocket the salaries of the deceased, said Atal, who estimates that some 40% of the registered forces do not exist, according to reports.
Meanwhile, Pacha Gul Bakhtiar, Helmand’s former deputy police chief, said the province has 31,000 policemen on paper, “but in reality it is nowhere near that.”
According to US officials, Washington would also maintain a large counterterrorism capability of terror drones and Special Operations forces to fight militants in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s security forces are entirely funded by the international community, at a cost of some $5 billion a year, most of which comes from the United States.
