Posted on 02/18/2009 6:21:56 AM PST by Mr. Mojo
(CNSNews.com) – Between 2004 and 2008, the U.S. gave an estimated 242,000 “small” and “light” weapons to the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).
But now 87,000, or 36 percent, of those weapons are missing and unaccounted for, largely because of a lack of accountability guidelines and weak safe-keeping practices, taccording to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.
The GAO said the U.S. Army Security Assistance Command and the U.S. Navy have spent about $120 million to buy 242,203 weapons, including rifles (117,163), pistols (62,055), machine guns (35,778), grenade launchers (18,656), shotguns (6,704), rocket-propelled grenade launchers (1,620), mortars, and other weapons (227).
In addition to the 87,000 missing weapons, the serial numbers or other records of an estimated 135,000 weapons donated by 21 other countries also were nowhere to be found, according to the GAO.
On Jan. 30, the GAO released a report that scrutinizes the abilities of the Defense Department and ANSF to fully account for U.S.-obtained weapons as well as the ability of Afghan forces to safeguard those weapons.
The U.S. donated its share of weapons as part of the Defense Department’s Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan (CSTC-A), which aims to provide training and equipment to ANSF. The U.S. Department of State played a role in supporting this effort as well.
“Our point that we’re highlighting is the fact that there is insufficient accountability to ensure any of the weapons,” Charles M. Johnson, GAO’s director of international affairs and trade, told CNSNews.com. “We’re raising accountability over quite a few weapons.”
On Feb.12, Johnson testified about the Jan. 30 report before the House subcommittee on national and foreign affairs – part of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
OF the 135,000 weapons donated by the international community, valued at about $103 million, probably “80 or 90 percent of those were AK-47s,” Johnson told Congress.
Insurgents in Afghanistan commonly use the Russian-designed AK-47 assault rifle to attack U.S. troops.
Weapons that are not accounted for have the potential to end up in the wrong hands, posing a threat to the U.S forces in Afghanistan.
“If these weapons were to end up in the hands of our enemy forces, it would create a war situation,” Johnson told CNSNews.com.
Oversight and accountability for weapons is critical in high-threat environments, especially in Afghanistan, the GAO determined, especially where “potential theft and misuse of lethal equipment pose a significant danger to U.S. and coalition forces involved in security, stabilization, and reconstruction efforts.”
The GAO also noted the potential threat posed by the CSTC-A’s failure to monitor the use of night-vision devices in Afghanistan after the U.S issued them in July 2007, the report reveals.
“These devices are considered dangerous to the public and the U.S. forces in the wrong hands, and Defense guidance calls for intensive monitoring of their use, including tracking by serial number,” Johnson said.
By the time the CSTC-A conducted an inventory of night vision devices in Dec. 2008; it found that 10 devices are still missing from the 2,410 that the U.S. provided.
Problems with keeping track of the weapons were found throughout the whole disbursement process, according to Johnson.
“Lapses in weapons accountability occurred throughout the supply chain, including when weapons were obtained, transported to Afghanistan, and stored at two central depots in Kabul,” Johnson testified.
Johnson also disclosed the fact that although the U.S. Department of Defense has accountability guidelines for its weapons, it had not provided “clear guidance to U.S personnel regarding what accountability procedures applied when handling weapons obtained for the ANSF.”
As a result, “Defense cannot be certain that weapons intended for ANSF have reached those forces,” the GAO report said.
Locating 46,000 of the 87,000 unaccounted for U.S. weapons has proved to be impossible, Johnson added.
“For about 46,000 weapons, the Army could not provide us serial numbers to uniquely identify each weapon provided,” Johnson said, “which made it impossible for us to determine their location or disposition.”
The remaining 41,000 missing U.S. weapons were recorded by serial number, but the CSTC-A still has no idea what the weapons are being used for, where they are – or who has them.
Johnson, meanwhile, testified that the Afghan security forces “cannot fully safeguard” the weapons.
In addition to problems like “lack of functioning property, illiteracy, corruption, and desertion,” the GAO pointed out that weapons are often stored in “poorly secured central depots” and “are significantly vulnerable.”
The United States also has limited ability to detect the loss of these weapons without conducting routine inventories, the GAO report stated.
Lt. Col Mark Wright, a Defense Department spokesman, directed CNSNews.com to contact the CSTC-A, saying that the agency had already “identified weaknesses and challenges of the past,” and has implemented a plan of action to deal with weapon accountability issues.
The CSTC-A, however, has not responded to CNSNews.com requests for an interview.
The GAO is recommending that the Secretary of Defense set up comprehensive accountability guidelines for weapons under U.S supervision.
Comment unnecessary.
-—just wondering what happens to a recruit who “loses” an M-16 during stateside service?
when I was a young punk in infanty basic many moons ago, I left mine more than arms length away.
the DI snatched it, disassembled it, buried it, made me a map, and I had to find it all or else.
Cleaning it was no fun.
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