US Taxpayers Help Finance Afghanistan Protection Racket of Extortion and Corruption
You won't like this, I promise you. It will only demonstrate how futile the whole Afghanistan war is, just like the Vietnam war was. How corrupt it all is and how US taxpayer money is used.
Some two billion dollars have been sent and funneled through the Pentagon for the trucking of military and civilian supplies into Afghanistan. All the necessities of life and war are mostly brought in by huge convoys of trucks from Pakistan. The contracts are given to locals. These are called Host Nation Trucking. This amount roughly moves about 70% of all goods and material sent to US troops through only eight Afghanistan contractors. Naturally, one of the largest is run by the son of Afghanistan's defense minister. The eight contractors then sub-contract out to others with absolutely no oversight. Moving a convoy of trucks from Bagram near Kabul to Khandahar requires some 500 armed guards! These are heavily armed. The best warlord there is "the Butcher" and he was hired to protect the convoys. The Butcher guards 3500 trucks and charges $1500 per truck for a safe arrival in Khandar. The US contractors present are lightly armed and are ill-equipped for this guard duty. Local militias claim they are now "security" companies and require payoff. Many of these security firms are owned by cousins of President Karzai. Still other Afghanistanis require payoff to secure various routes each having a "toll" for passage. If the toll is not paid, danger is lurking nearby.
If that was not enough, the sub-contractors have to pay the Taliban in US dollars for safe passage of the supply convoy to avoid coming under attack. The Afghan army and police force also get a piece of the action by paying each Afghan Govenor, police force, and army unit up to $10000 for convoys that transit through their controlled area.
Vietnam was as bad and in the end a "House of Cards" that collapsed once America withdrew and pulled out. The same will happen once this happens in Afghanistan. In the end, they will have the last laugh.
