Arms From U.S. May Be Falling Into Taliban Hands

SANGIN, Afghanistan – An Army Special Operations Force Soldier scans for insurgents during an engagement Apr. 10 in the Sangin District area of Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force - Afghanistan Soldiers have conducted operations over the past several days to eliminate insurgents and promote peace and stability in the area. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Daniel Love)

From The New York Times:

KABUL, Afghanistan — Insurgents in Afghanistan, fighting from some of the poorest and most remote regions on earth, have managed for years to maintain an intensive guerrilla war against materially superior American and Afghan forces.

Arms and ordnance collected from dead insurgents hint at one possible reason: Of 30 rifle magazines recently taken from insurgents’ corpses, at least 17 contained cartridges, or rounds, identical to ammunition the United States had provided to Afghan government forces, according to an examination of ammunition markings by The New York Times and interviews with American officers and arms dealers.

The presence of this ammunition among the dead in the Korangal Valley, an area of often fierce fighting near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan, strongly suggests that munitions procured by the Pentagon have leaked from Afghan forces for use against American troops.

Read more ....

Update: Arming the Enemy in Afghanistan -- Slate

My Comment: Afghanistan has a long history of corruption and "playing" both sides .... this is a wake up call for better inventory controls. Kudos to the New York Times for this story.