A former Afghan minister blamed the fall of the Afghan government on corrupt officials who invented “ghost soldiers” who either did not exist or had been killed while receiving money from the Taliban …
Former Secretary of the Treasury Khalid Payenda has revealed to the BBC that in fact most of the 300,000 soldiers and police on the government records simply did not exist. He commented that the “personal ghost” was added to the official lists so that the generals could offer their salaries.
The Taliban quickly invaded Afghanistan in August as US forces withdrew from the country after 20 years. Mr Payenda, who resigned and fled Afghanistan as Islamists rallied, said records showing security forces far outnumbered the Taliban were incorrect.
“In the way accountability was done, you would ask the leader in that province ‘how many people do you have’ and based on that you would calculate the salaries and subsistence expenses which would always be inflated,” he told the BBC’s Ed Butler.
The former minister said that the numbers may have “swelled” more than φορές six times and included “dropouts [και] dead who were never registered because some of the governors would keep their bank cards “and get their salaries.
Mr Payenda also said that the forces that often existed were not paid on time, while there were generals who “got it from both sides” – that is, they got their government salary and then accepted payments from the Taliban to avoid fight.
bbc.com
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