NYT: Taliban may be acquiring U.S. arms

NYT: Taliban may be acquiring U.S. arms

KABUL - Insurgents in Afghanistan, fighting from some of the poorest and most remote regions on earth, have managed for years to maintain an intensive guerrilla war against materially superior American and Afghan forces.

Arms and ordnance collected from dead insurgents hint at one possible reason: Of 30 rifle magazines recently taken from insurgents’ corpses, at least 17 contained cartridges, or rounds, identical to ammunition the United States had provided to Afghan government forces, according to an examination of ammunition markings by The New York Times and interviews with American officers and arms dealers.

The presence of this ammunition among the dead in the Korangal Valley, an area of often fierce fighting near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan, strongly suggests that munitions procured by the Pentagon have leaked from Afghan forces for use against American troops.

The scope of that diversion remains unknown, and the 30 magazines represented a single sampling of fewer than 1,000 cartridges. But military officials, arms analysts and dealers say it points to a worrisome possibility: With only spotty American and Afghan controls on the vast inventory of weapons and ammunition sent into Afghanistan during an eight-year conflict, poor discipline and outright corruption among Afghan forces may have helped insurgents stay supplied.

Full Story Here:
NYT: Taliban may be acquiring U.S. arms

I have been accused, on numerous occasions, of not being politically correct and of being less than enthusiastic concerning our so-called allies in Afghanistan and Iraq. I see no need in changing now.

Americans are being threatened and killed with American arms and ammunition. Those arms and ammunition are coming from stores given by us to the Afghan government. The Afghan government is filled with Taliban supporters and members. Ask yourself this question, IF the Infidel Americans are so willing to supply the arms that the Taliban is using to kill said Americans, is it not the duty of all faithful Muslims to gladly accept those weapons and munitions? And to use them?

The Afghan government is rife with corruption, of course they are going to misappropriate as many weapons to their Taliban friends as they possibly can. Much the same way the Iraqi government has. Afghanistan, and it's many splinter groups are rife with greed and corruption, it is the Islamic way. The BIG DOG runs the show and it's OK to steal anything you can use to defeat the Great Satan, from the Great Satan, that would be us.

Linked to California, Czech Republic
The examination of the Taliban’s cartridges found telling signs of diversion: 17 of the magazines contained ammunition bearing either of two stamps: the word "WOLF" in uppercase letters, or the lowercase arrangement "bxn."

"WOLF" stamps mark ammunition from Wolf Performance Ammunition , a company in California that sells Russian-made cartridges to American gun owners. The company has also provided cartridges for Afghan soldiers and police officers, typically through middlemen. Its munitions can be found in Afghan government bunkers.

Once the ammunition has been sold, I don't hold the U.S., or any manufacturer, is necessarily responsible for where that ammunition ends up being used. Even if the manufacturer has followed the letter of the law to it's fullest intent, once another person(s) is in possession of said ammo, the black market is vast and easily accessible. Trying to hold the makers of the ammunition responsible for where it's used, and for who uses it, would be as ridiculous as those that attempted to hold gun manufacturers responsible for crime. It's simply not going to happen.

There is no evidence that Wolf, the Czech government or A.E.Y. knowingly shipped ammunition to Afghan insurgents. A.E.Y. was banned last year from doing business with the Pentagon, but its legal troubles stemmed from unrelated allegations of fraud.

I have heard it said, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions", the American military has great intentions, they are in Afghanistan simply because it IS the right thing to do, and the right place to do it. Our government, the Senate and House, have had a long history of supplying Afghan warriors with top shelf armaments. See Charlie Wilson's War, a story that is as accurately presented as any movie I have ever seen.

We supplied the Taliban with the weapons they used to defeat the Soviets, now the corruption within the Afghan government is providing the Taliban with the weaponry that they need if they hope will be used to defeat us.

It's a sad statement of affairs when your troops are facing death from enemies supplied with American ammunition and weapons.

Cross posted @ TexasFred’s