The United States has been shoveling weapons into the hands of Afghan troops but has no firm system in place or enough personnel to ensure they do not wind up in the hands of Taliban fighters, according to a new independent study.
The report, obtained by The Associated Press, came to light Wednesday as Kabul underwent a devastating attack by heavily armed militants. The fighters stormed three government buildings of the fortified capital, killing 20 people and wounding 57 others.
Afghanistan officials said the eight attackers _ armed with Kalashnikov rifles, grenades and explosive vests _ died in the assault, bringing the death toll to 28.
In a study to be released on Thursday, the Government Accountability Office found that the United States shipped some 242,000 weapons to Afghanistan during a nearly four-year period before June 2008. The weapons included rifles, pistols, machine guns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Another 135,000 weapons were provided by foreign donors and managed by the U.S. military.
Despite the influx of weapons to be handed off to Afghanistan forces, the Defense Department did not maintain a complete inventory on more than a third of them, according to the GAO.
Many weapons could not be linked to serial numbers, making it nearly impossible to verify receipt. And of the 41,000 with serial numbers, none could be tied to records confirming their location. The military also would forgo routine inventory checks because of staffing shortages and lack of direction, GAO concluded.
Similar findings accompanied a review of some 135,000 weapons provided by foreign donors and managed by the U.S. military.
“Lapses in accountability occurred throughout the supply chain,” according to the report. Weapons provided by the U.S. military to Afghanistan security forces “are at serious risk of theft or loss.”
Democratic Rep. John Tierney, who will chair a House of Representatives hearing Thursday on the issue, called the findings disturbing.
Weapons accountability “serves as an important and tangible harbinger of how we’ve been doing so far with U.S. and international efforts to train and equip the Afghan police,” Tierney said in his prepared remarks.
Tierney said the findings will help determine whether Congress should try to legislate weapons handling in Afghanistan.
“The challenges here are immense, but this is just too important not to get it right,” he said.