NATO paying the Taliban for safe passage

Posted By Joshua Keating Thursday, December 11, 2008 - 10:08 PM Share

The Times (London) reports that the companies contracted by coalition forces to transport supplies into Afghanistan regularly pay protection money to local Taliban militias:

A transport company owner who runs convoys south on the notoriously dangerous Kabul to Kandahar highway said: “We pay taxes to both thieves and the Taleban to get our trucks through Ghazni province and there are several ways of paying. This goes to a very high level in the Afghan Government.

“Mostly the [Afghan] security companies have middlemen to negotiate the passage of the convoys, so they don't get attacked. They pay on a convoy by convoy basis to let the convoy pass at a certain time. They have to pay each of the Taleban commanders who control each part of the road. When you hear of an attack it is usually because a new small [Taleban] group has arrived on the road.”

Lieutenant-Commander James Gater, a spokesman for Nato forces in Afghanistan, said that the transport of Nato supplies was contracted to commercial firms and how they got them into the country was their business. 

The story's a little short on details so it's not exactly clear to what extent the "Taleban" they're referring to are just indepedent local bandits, but it's probably worth some more investigation.

Photo: TARIQ MAHMOOD/AFP/Getty Images

EXPLORE:AFGHANISTAN
 

JOSHUA.FOUST

11:56 PM ET

December 11, 2008

That is a very misleading headline

Contractors MIGHT be paying informal tolls along the road. Not NATO, and not for certain.

 

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