In a game of survival, US military contractors are ‘forced to pay suspected insurgents to protect American supply routes.’ An Afghan private security official reveals, “Most escorting is done by the Taliban.”

A new report reveals that the United States of America actually funds the Taliban. The US government is ‘financing the very same insurgent forces in Afghanistan that American and NATO soldiers are fighting.’ The US military provides funding to the militant group through contractors.

Through vicarious means, US funds end up in Taliban hands, ‘The Taliban is getting a big chunk of its financing by protecting supply convoys to the American military. Security contractors paid by the US to bring supplies into Afghanistan pay huge amounts of protection money to warlords and insurgents.’

According to officials, the paying of protection money is the only viable way to ensure that necessary supplies are transported safely to recipient areas. One American executive admits, “If you tell me not to pay these insurgents, the chances of my trucks getting attacked increase exponentially.”

As an investigation by the Nation reveals, ‘Pentagon officials are aware of the situation and estimate that at least 10% of the hundreds of millions paid to contractors ends up in Taliban hands.’ Another truth revealed is that ‘a minimum of 10 percent of the Pentagon’s logistics contracts–hundreds of millions of dollars–consists of payments to insurgents’ as estimated by US military officials in Kabul.

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Via The Nation