In an attempt to hide the Afghan government’s military dependency on the United States, the US is sending $2.7 billion of military equipment to the beleaguered, corrupt Afghan government. But neither government can afford it.
Preceding the NATO pull out in 2014, the shipments will include 22,000 US vehicles, 20 Russian helicopters, 120mm artillery guns, and transport aircraft from Italy. It will not include tanks, fighter jets, or Black Hawk helicopters, despite Afghan requests.
Estimates of NATO expenditures on Afghanistan’s security infrastructure are expected to be $11 billion by 2014, and $10 billion for military hardware. It takes approximately $6 billion a year – more than three times the Kabul government’s annual income – to sustain these assets. And the US is unprepared to cover that cost.
The US is finding itself pressured in its attempt to cut costs due to budgetary deficits, while also beefing up Afghan security forces to at least feign some measure of ready independence. A recent congressional report uncovering tens of billions of dollars of waste in Afghanistan warned the losses could continue to accrue if the Afghan is unable or unwilling to sustain US-funded projects after withdrawal.
Why in Hell are we sending RUSSIAN helicopters to Afghanistan????
For two very good reason, right off hand:
1) Russian helos are more rugged than ours and require less cutting-edge technical maintenace, and
2) There are bound to be former Afghan pilots who would have been trained on Russian systems and can step right back into the role of pilot or trainer if need be, and (bonus)
3) We can buy Russian helos for a lot cheaper than we can supply our own- and parts are going to be undoubtedly easier to locate in that part of the world.
Besides, the Russians are gearing up for a return to Afghanistan and I'm sure they'll be happy to supply any parts and trainers needed.
Loraine, to be shot down by the insurgent's
What a total waste of money and equipment. With all of our massive force we can't beat the Taliban. What good is this going to do the governor of Kabul? I can already see these tens of thousands of vehicles and weapons littering the countryside as broken down pieces of rusting out scrap. The will be breaking down with no parts to fix them, they will be used for parts and discarded, they will be sabataged, they will be stolen, they will be blown to pieces and they will be sold of to other nations. The Taliban itself with end up with many of them.
Somehow I just don't see 2014 as the end date for this war. The only way it's likely to happen is if the US has an economic collapse, or Ron Paul gets elected. The other warmongers are not going to let us "lose" it would be political suicide and they would prefer the US suffer a slow death than admit defeat.
Electing Dr. Paul, however unlikely, would not change much. The President, as has been proven recently, does not have the power to affect a change in the direction this country is going. The true power lies where the money is held. And those with the money seem to only have their own interests at heart.
Dr. Paul begs to differ, but we won't find out until he is elected. I'll take the chance he's right.
The President has lots of power. The problem is last time we elected a liar who had no intention of doing anything he said. There's an easy way to tell the difference. Obama ran around promising change while tens of millions of dollars of wall street dollars flowed into his accounts. Only a fool could believe he'd shaft his backers to keep his promises.
The Democrats are lying now about how powerless Obama is in order to cover their rears and to try to con their base into voting for their warmonger President again. Please don't translate that into thinking we the people are powerless to change anything.
If you read such places like this, you'll find regular messages to the effect that you are powerless and helpless and can't possibly change anything. Please don't believe them.
I´m afraid you are right. As much as I am for Ron Paul, if he was elected and didn´t follow the behind-the-scenes leaders of America, he would be assassinated. The only reason we haven´t had more political assassinations in America is because our politicians learned their lessons from the Kennedy assassinations.
ALL FOR PROFIT
There is a billion barrows of black gold under the Caspian Sea that needs an Afghan pipeline so it can flow into the booming economy of India.
There is Russia and China that need to be kept out of the area for geopolitical reasons, and need to be kept separate so they do not create a worldwide economy more competitive then ours.
There are all the Muslim Arab people that need to be terrorized and enslaved, as a near majority of the world’s oil and natural gas is on their land.
What do the Taliban use to get around? Motor Bikes!!!!!!!!!!!. Just remember that both Russia and the US have tried to Route the Afghanis, and Both have failed.
a rag teag army not only beating TWO superpowers but doing so within a decade or so of each other. However they have just joined a list of Empires that have attempted to invade and failed.
Bin ladin is gone, time to leave, its not worth the effort to throw good money after bad!
This shows that Bin Ladin was an excuse not a reason.
Since the Taliban has already infiltrated the Afghan Army to a great extent, this is a tremendous gift to them. Surely we're not expecting the Afghan Army to pay for it? As soon as the US declares victory and goes home, Karzai is toast and he knows it.
The first time I saw us blow up a stone hut with a million dollar missile, I knew this war was hopeless.
This also of course tells you that all the fake plans about 'rebuilding' the Afghan police or army to our standards is total BS. We forget Afghanistan is one of the poorest places on earth. They can't afford a western NATO style army and an American style police state. Its all due to crumble in the sand the day America realizes its broke as well and can't pay these bills.