Forty Percent Of The Afghan Army In Helmand Province Does Not Exist

An Afghan national army soldier mans his position at an outpost in Babaji. Photograph: Abdul Malik/Reuters

The Guardian: Afghanistan's 'ghost soldiers': thousands enlisted to fight Taliban don't exist

Investigation found that 40% of troops in Helmand province are fake names or dead men, leaving Afghan border patrol filling the front line void indefinitely.

From about 8.30pm until well after midnight, the dark blue sky above Babaji lit up, as rockets and flares crisscrossed above this cluster of villages close to Helmand’s provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.

At a mud fortress beyond a river bridge painted in the tricolours of the Afghan flag, 24 members of the Afghan border police dug in. They were not supposed to be there.

“We were not trained to fight on the front line,” said Cpt Ghulam Wali Afghan, the commander, when the Guardian visited the post.

As their name suggests, Wali Afghan’s men are meant to protect Afghanistan’s porous border, where smugglers cross with copious drugs, weapons and people.

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WNU Editor: Sighhh .... this is not a new story. Ghosts soldiers have been the norm in this conflict for as long as I can remember .... and it should be clear to everyone right now that there are many in the Afghan Army and in the government who are not interested in cleaning this up.