As the deadline approaches for pulling out troops, the United States and its European allies are preparing to spend more money than ever on improving Afghanistan’s police and military, in the hopes they can take over the country’s security. The West plans to allocate $11.6 billion this year, bringing the total over the last two years to nearly $20 billion.

 

To date, NATO funding has purchased for Afghan security forces 24,000 Ford Rangers, 108,000 9mm pistols, 74,000 handheld radios, 44 helicopters and four bomb-sniffing robots, in addition to other items.

 

The Afghan government is still not satisfied, however. It wants the U.S. to provide tanks and fighter jets too—something American military commanders have balked at, arguing that the equipment is unnecessary for fighting a low-tech insurgency like the Taliban.

 

The $20 billion is in addition to the billions that the U.S. has appropriated hiring Afghan contractors to help guard convoys and installations. That funding has created controversy due to the paying of warlords and others with ties to the Taliban—the very same forces the contractors are supposed to be combating.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

U.S. and NATO Allies Plan to Spend $11.6 Billion This Year for Afghan Security (by Joshua Partlow, Washington Post)

U.S. Afghan Bases Guarded by Taliban, Criminals and Spies (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov)

Afghan Warlords Gain U.S. Funding by Rebranding as “Private Security Companies” (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)