An investigation, carried out by the Reuters News Agency has revealed soldiers serving in the Afghan army resorting to a deliberate waste of ammunition. The ammunition was supplied by the United States to fight militants in the country.
According to figures from the United States Department of Defense, the country spent more than $300 million on ammunition alone in 2015, for the Afghan army and police. The United States government claims the ammunition is aid, which is given to Afghanistan as part of its broader commitment to the fight against militants in the country.
However, as the United States continues to push the ammunition – made up of bullets, shells and others – to the Afghan army, the Afghan government has neglected the well-being of soldiers who are on the front-lines fighting the militants. It is said the average Afghan soldier is paid only $200 a month.
This has ensured that many of the Afghan soldiers live in poverty. Morale in the army is reportedly down. It has also contributed to the widespread corruption in the army.
During the Reuters investigation, it came to light that soldiers have found a ‘brilliant’ way of making money in the army, since their salary is nothing to write home about.
Buying and selling of metal scraps, is a business carried out in Afghanistan and other low-income countries. Reuters revealed that many soldiers who are in need of cash will just load their M16 or AK-47 guns with rounds of bullets. They will then open fire, targeting nothing. After all the rounds are gone, they will then collect the empty cartridge casings and sell them to scrap metal dealers who are in need of the metals. This compensates the low wage of the soldiers, helping them to buy food.
The soldiers who want to make huge money are said to be firing artillery shells late in the night, selling the empty shells to the scrap dealers. They do this on pretext of firing at militants, especially the Taliban, who the Afghan army have fought for years.
A scrap metal dealer in the southern province of Helmand, identified as Zahir Jan told the investigators that he pays about 175 Afghani ($2.55) per kilo of spent cartridge casings. He said he has no trouble finding supplies from poorly paid soldiers and policemen – those looking for money to make a decent living.
“If they don’t have enough on hand [cartridge casings], they are happy to fire off their weapons for 5-10 minutes until they have what they need. This is a good business now and there are buyers waiting in different areas,” Jan said.
A commander in the Helmand province pleading anonymity, confirmed that troops can fire off 10,000-20,000 rounds in a single night with no presence of the Taliban or other militants. The objective of firing is to get the cartridge casings.
Again, a senior Afghan officer in the army’s technical and weapons branch, who also did not want to be named, said troops in Helmand and the northern province of Kunduz fired 7,000 artillery shells in May, 2016. He revealed it was done to get the empty shells to sell to scrap metal dealers for money.
“We asked army commanders about it and said if each shell killed only one person, we should have 3,500 Taliban dead in each province. It is very clear they fire aimlessly and collect the shell casings for copper and sell them,” the anonymous officer said.
Another officer, who arrived in the Helmand province as commander in January this year – following the dismissal of senior officers in the army’s 215th corps for various offences – estimated that up to 8 out of every 10 soldiers in the area sell ammunition casings to make money. He said that “one hundred percent, it happens. The reason is the lack of a proper logistics system as well as insufficient pay and leave.”
Apart from selling of ammunition casings, it was also found that some soldiers also steal guns, rocket-propelled grenades, and rocket launchers to sell to the very Taliban and other militants they are fighting, for money.
When the investigators contacted the Afghan Defense Ministry for statistics on ammunition usage in the country, officials declined to provide any information, saying they are acting on strict orders from above.
But at least, seven anonymous officials in the Afghan government and the military confirmed that many soldiers in the army fire their weapons, in order to obtain casings to sell to make money.
To observers, this shows how the United States government is wasting tax payers’ money on a war that can never be won. The United States government has declined to comment on the issue.
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