(Reuters) A U.S. government watchdog is pressing the Pentagon to explain reports of tens of thousands of “ghost” soldiers and police on the payrolls of the Afghan security forces, which are heavily funded by international donors.
The U.S. government has allocated more than $68 billion since 2002 to help support Afghan security forces battling Taliban insurgents and other militants. The United States and its NATO allies pledged earlier this year to provide around $5 billion per year until at least 2020 for the army and police.
Some of that money could be fraudulently wasted by funding non-existent positions in the security forces, John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, wrote in a letter to the U.S. Defense Department.
