US investigates alleged bribing of Taliban
MAIDAN SHAHR, Afghanistan — For months, reports have abounded here that the Afghan mercenaries who escort American and other NATO convoys through the badlands have been bribing Taliban insurgents to let them pass.
Now, recent deaths have raised the suspicions of investigators here and in Washington, who are trying to track the tens of millions in taxpayer dollars paid to private security companies to move supplies to American and other NATO bases.
The officials suspect that at least some of these security companies — many of which have ties to top Afghan officials — are using American money to bribe the Taliban. The officials suspect that the security companies may also engage in fake fighting to increase the sense of risk on the roads and that they may sometimes stage attacks against competitors.
The investigation is complicated by the fact that some of the private security companies are owned by relatives of President Hamid Karzai and other senior Afghan officials.
The principal goal of the American-led campaign here is to prepare an Afghan state and army to fight the Taliban themselves. The possibility of collusion between the Taliban and Afghan officials suggests that, rather than fighting one another, the two Afghan sides may often cooperate under the noses of their wealthy benefactors.
Although at least some of the security companies are believed to be bribing Taliban fighters, many have also been known to act with violence toward villagers or insurgents who have tried to interfere with their convoys.
At least two groups of US investigators are focusing on potential bribes to the Taliban: the House national security subcommittee and another group working for NATO in Kabul.
