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| Afghanistan | |
| Beans and Bullets: Millions of rounds fired in Helmand | |
| 2016-08-11 | |
| Officials said Wednesday that British troops fired 46 million rounds of ammunition at the Taliban during eight years of combat in Afghanistan. The bullets and artillery shells used cost the taxpayer a total of nearly £200 million ($300 million USD). Sources on condition of anonymity have told TOLOnews that the Afghan security forces have meanwhile fired 9.6 million rounds of ammunition at Taliban militants in three months in Helmand.
"Now the Taliban have the same equipment which is available to security forces, Taliban get a lot by using this equipment and weapons. Because weapons available to government forces are not used properly, sometimes this equipment is exploited for corruption," said MP Abdul Hai Akhondzada. Meanwhile, UN officials have pushed for an investigation into the issue to detect corrupt elements and convict them. "I am not an expert in the war, if people are corrupt, they need to be investigated after detection by the bodies under the constitution and they need to be prosecuted," said Michael Hartmann, Chief of the Rule-of-Law Unit of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) . "If you spread nine million bullets on the ground, it covers the whole of Helmand, government forces' reporting is nothing except an exaggeration, this indicates that they have reported on their embezzlement," said military analyst Atiqullah Amarkhail. Ministry of interior and ministry of defense have confirmed that a high volume of bullets were fired in the Helmand war, but vows to probe the reports. "When there is movement of the enemy, firing occurs, because when you have weapons in hand, you must use it for the sake of your country and we are doing this," said Mohammad Radmanish, deputy spokesman to MoD. "We are prepared to take actions against the misuse of police assets in Helmand," said Sediq Sediqqi, spokesman to ministry of interior, referring the reports. The new development takes place just weeks after the residents in Helmand criticized the lack of good governance in parts of the province, declaring the issue the main reason behind the rising threats. | |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #2 Meanwhile, UN officials have pushed for an investigation into the issue to detect corrupt elements FIFY. |
| Posted by: magpie 2016-08-11 13:14 |
| #1 The bullets and artillery shells used cost the taxpayer a total of nearly £200 million ($300 million USD). Something less than the program for refugee assimilation. Had they more of one they would need less of the other. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2016-08-11 07:21 |