US arms being found in Taliban hands

[Naveed Yaseen]

LAHORE: Of the 30 rifle magazines recently taken from Taliban corpses, at least 17 contained cartridges identical to the ammunition the United States had provided to Afghan government forces, The New York Times has reported.

The scope of that diversion remains unknown since the 30 magazines represent a single sampling of fewer than 1,000 cartridges. But analysts say it points to a worrisome possibility.

The US Government Accountability Office criticised the Afghan government in February for failing to account for thousands of rifles issued to Afghan security forces. Some of these weapons have been documented in Taliban hands.

In response, the Pentagon has created a database of small arms issued to Afghan units. But no similarly thorough accountability system exists for ammunition, which is harder to trace and more ‘liquid’ than firearms.

American forces do not examine all captured arms and munitions, military officers said.

The examination of the Taliban’s cartridges found telling signs of diversion: 17 of the magazines contained ammunition bearing either of two stamps: the word “WOLF” in uppercase letters, or the lowercase arrangement “bxn”.

“WOLF” stamps mark ammunition from a company in California that sells Russian-made cartridges to American gun owners. A former Pentagon supplier also shipped surplus Czech ammunition to Afghanistan.

Most of the ammunition in the Taliban magazines was in good condition and showed little weathering, denting, corrosion or soiling, suggesting it had been removed from packaging recently.

There is no evidence that the ammunition was knowingly shipped to Afghan insurgents.

The American military did not dispute the possibility that theft or corruption could have steered ammunition to insurgents.

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Arms sent by US may be falling into Taliban hands
NEW YORK: The resilience of Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgency may be partly due to US arms leaking from Afghan forces to the militants, a leading American newspaper reported on Wednesday. The New York Times said arms and ordnance collected from dead insurgents suggest that they are identical to munitions the United States had provided to Afghan government forces.

According to an examination of ammunition markings by the Times and interviews with American officers and arms dealers, the presence of this ammunition among the dead in Afghanistan’s Korangal Valley, strongly suggests that munitions have leaked from Afghan forces.

The scope of that diversion remains unknown, and the discovery of 30 magazines represented a single sampling of fewer than 1,000 cartridges, the Times said in a dispatch. Military officials, arms analysts and dealers say it points to a worrisome possibility — poor discipline and outright corruption among Afghan forces. Some of these weapons have been documented in insurgents’ hands, including weapons in a battle last year in which nine Americans died.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg7_22