Congress to Probe Private Military Contractors
17 December 2009
Congress to Probe Private Military Contractors in Afghanistan, CNN, 17 December 2009
EXCERPT: "Congress is launching a broad-ranging investigation into possible waste, misuse and corruption tied to billions of taxpayer dollars used to support private military contractors in Afghanistan. Among the questions being raised is whether money provided in a nearly $2.2 billion trucking contract in the war-torn country went to pay off local warlords...
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17 December 2009
, AFP, 17 December 2009
EXCERPT: "Afghanistan's anti-corruption office is hamstrung by a lack of trained staff, enforcement powers and independence, a US government watchdog said in a damning report published Wednesday. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who was re-elected following an August ballot mired in massive fraud, is under massive Western pressure to crack down on corruption...
Export Value of Afghan Opium is Falling
17 December 2009
Afghanistan Opium Survey: Export Value of Afghan Opium is Falling, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 17 December 2009
EXCERPT: "The potential gross export value of Afghanistan's opiates is down 18 per cent, from US$ 3.4 billion in 2008 to US$ 2.8 billion in 2009 - an equivalent of around a quarter of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). This is the main finding of the issued today...
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UN: American Offered Plan to Replace Karzai
17 December 2009
, The New York Times, 16 December 2009
EXCERPT: "As widespread fraud in the Afghanistan presidential election was becoming clear three months ago, the No. 2 United Nations official in the country, the American Peter W. Galbraith, proposed enlisting the White House in a plan to replace the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, according to two senior United Nations officials. Mr. Karzai, the...
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