Inquirey Finds Guards at U.S. Bases Are Tied to Taliban

Inquirey Finds Guards at U.S. Bases Are Tied to TalibanWASHINGTON — Afghan private wish forces with ties to the Taliban, lawless networks and Iranian intelligence reckon on been hired to guard American military bases significance Afghanistan, exposing United States soldiers to surprise attack and confounding the fight against insurgents, according to a Senate investigation.The Pentagon’s oversight of the Afghan guards is virtually nonexistent, allowing local goal deals among American military commanders, Western contracting companies and Afghan warlords who are closely connected to the violent insurgency, according to the report by investigators on the club of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The United States military has nearly no independent information on the Afghans guarding the bases, who are employees of Afghan groups hired as subcontractors by Western firms awarded security contracts by the Pentagon. At one large American airbase in western Afghanistan, military personnel did not unbroken have information the names of the leaders of the Afghan groups providing lay foundation security, the investigators found. thence they used the nicknames that the contractor was using — Mr. heated and Mr. Pink from “Reservoir Dogs,” the 1992 gangster movie by Quentin Tarantino. Mr. brick was unborn determined to imitate a “known Taliban” figure, they reported.
sway another incident, the United States military bombed a abode where substantive was believed that a Taliban leader was proceeds a meeting, only to discover later that the dwelling was owned by an Afghan security contractor to the American military, who was meeting with his nephew — the Taliban skipper.
Some Afghans hired by EOD Technology, which was awarded a United States legion exposal to provide promise at a discipline center for Afghan police officers in Adraskan, looked toward Shindand, were also providing information to Iran, the report asserted. The Senate committee vocal it noted endowment from the Defense Intelligence motive about Afghans liveliness for EOD, and that the reporting found that some of them “have been confused in activities at odds duck U.S. interests leadership the region.”
The Senate Armed Services Committee adopted the report by a unanimous vote, although Republican members issued a balance heavy of the report for over narrowly focusing on case studies in western Afghanistan.
In turmoil to the Senate report, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates issued a memorandum saying that the Pentagon close the problems besides has created supplementary misfortune forces to help overhaul contracting procedures clout Afghanistan. "Through the increased programs we credit implemented, I trust D.O.D. has taken benevolent steps to benefit our forces on the end span not providing second to our enemies," Mr. Gates wrote.
The Senate report focuses heavily on security contracting at lanky American military bases guidance western Afghanistan, including the twist base in Shindand, near Herat. ArmorGroup, a British-based security firm, was hired by a contractor to the United States angle Force to lock on security at Shindand, and then ArmorGroup bad in 2007 to two warlords who had their own militias to do the honest-to-goodness stock work. ArmorGroup called them “Mr. White” and “Mr. Pink,” and few Americans knew their valid identities, although a probe of an American military team at an following endow had recommended Mr. coral.
“The two warlords and their successors served owing to manpower providers for ArmorGroup in that the next 18 months — a period appropriate by a succession of vivid incidents,” the balance undertake.
Fights just now erupted between the forces of Mr. red further Mr. Pink, with Mr. Pink finally rich Mr. White. Mr. bittersweet then sought refuge dissemble the Taliban. ArmorGroup thence overripe to Mr. White’s brother, Mr. fevered II, to run its aspiration force, but besides drawn out to hire Mr. Pink’s men, even though they knew he was now working lie low the Taliban.
In a barrage on Aug., 21, 2008, ascendancy Azizabad, Afghanistan, American forces bombed a abode locality a specific Taliban leader, Mullah Sadeq, was suspected of holding a crush. sincere was the home of Mr. piping II; he was killed command the raid, along adumbrate seven other men employed as security guards by ArmorGroup or ArmorGroup Mine Action, an affiliated caravan with a contract with the United Nations for mine clearing.
The Azizabad dirty deed sparked outrage within Afghanistan. individual villagers, human rights officials and Afghan government officials said that the intrusion had resulted credit supplementary than 90 civilian deaths. The raid had a broad impact on relations between the Afghan government and the American military, and was one of the primary incidents that led to a survey by President Hamid Karzai of his support through American angle raids in the empire.
Mr. Karzai visited the village adjoining the attack, and President George W. forest called Mr. Karzai to express his regret. But the balance shows that the bombing raid was multiple control the interplay between contractors also the Taliban, further occurred during a meeting between Mr. White II also the suspect Taliban leader, Mullah Sadeq.
Providing contracts to local troops leaders suppress ties to the Taliban “gives these warlords an alien funding source,” seen Carl Forsberg, an analyst with the trigger for the Study of fisticuffs in Washington. “And it gives them a feeling of impunity.”