When you see a wrong, do you pretend it's not there because to publicize the wrong might disrupt what appears to be working well? That's the position of our Army in Afghanistan. We need to get supplies to our soldiers. We have hired Afghanistan companies to transport the supplies. However, the Taliban controls the roads. To get the job done, the transport companies pay the Taliban to let them use the roads. But the Taliban are not the only ones getting money from our transportation efforts; government workers, policemen and our friends, the Karzais, also share in the kickbacks.
We have known about this issue for over a year, but have adopted a "see no evil, hear no evil" attitude. The argument for contracting transportation to Afghans has a couple of parts: it frees our troops up for soldiering, is less expensive and contributes to our counter-insurgency strategy. But how do you explain this to the family of a soldier killed by a weapon the Taliban bought with what is our money?
It's time to get out.
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