Some of the $300 million the United States government gives to the Afghan National Police is going to officers who don't actually exist, according to a new report.
The Washington Free Beacon claims the payments, which began 13 years ago, are not supervised.
The website cites a report from the Special Investigator General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which says there's no evidence that the police force's payroll data is accurate.
"Despite 13 years and several billions of dollars in salary assistance to the Afghan government for the ANP, there is still no assurance that personnel and payroll data are accurate," reads
the SIGAR report.
The agency claims the Afghan National Police has provided false numbers of officers to the Americans, which has led to higher than necessary payments. As a result, some officers have received larger salaries than they should have gotten.
"There is a significant risk that a large portion of the more than $300 million in annual U.S. government funding for ANP salaries will be wasted or abused," SIGAR wrote.
The problem will only get worse, as NATO
has now yielded security responsibilities in Afghanistan to the Afghan army and police.
"As a result, the U.S. government will become even more reliant on the [Afghan Interior Ministry's] ability to verify the accuracy of the personnel and payroll data it collects," SIGAR wrote.
The U.S.
has spent $1 trillion fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. More than 2,000 American soldiers died in the country.
In 2010, the U.S. had 140,000 soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan. With the war in the Middle Eastern nation now officially over, that figure will drop to 13,500. The remaining soldiers will serve in
training and support roles to the Afghanis.
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