Pallets Of Cash Fly Out Of Kabul

[avaistheone1]

June 28, 2010

KABUL (AFP) - More than three billion dollars in cash has been flown out of Kabul in recent years amid fears that ill-gotten gains from corruption and narcotics are being stashed overseas, a report said Monday.

The Wall Street Journal said the cash -- more than the Afghan government collects in tax and customs revenue annually -- is legally declared and packed into suitcases or cargo pallets on flights out of Kabul International Airport.

"A lot of this looks like our tax dollars being stolen. And opium, of course," a US official who is investigating corruption and Taliban financing told the newspaper.

Investigators believe some of the cash comes from Western-funded aid projects and US, European and NATO contracts to provide security and reconstruction work for coalition forces in Afghanistan.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/7477619/graft-fears-as-massive-cash-sums-fly-out-of-kabul-wsj/

Aid cash feared lost as £2bn is flown out of Afghanistan

More than £2bn of cash has been openly flown out of Kabul airport since 2007, raising fears huge sums of British and American aid are being creamed off by corrupt officials.

28 Jun 2010

The sum hemorrhaging from one of the poorest countries in the world has led officials to believe the money is from plundered Western aid projects and security or reconstruction contracts, it has been reported.

Proceeds from the country's rampant opium and heroin businesses also account for part of the sum, which is more than the Afghan government's entire tax revenue.

The money is packed in suitcases or even stacked on pallets and flown mainly to Dubai.
Customs records for legally declared money leaving the airport showed £2.1 billion left between since the start of 2007 and the end of February 2010.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7859275/Aid-cash-feared-lost-as-2bn-is-flown-out-of-Afghanistan.html







Meanwhile the Cat Food Commission muddles over austerity measures for Social Security here at home.





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Heck it looks like we could reduce the deficit more effectively by aggressively rolling back the Bush tax cuts, and by significantly cutting defense spending rather than by going after entitlements. Why we are throwing trillions of dollars away in Afghanistan while undermining Social Security for the seniors here at home. It makes no sense at all.

[tabatha]

1. They should fly it all back to the US for Social Security and Medicare.

[avaistheone1]

2. I think one of our Congresspeople or Senators could really make a name for him/herself of acting out

a satire of just THAT on the Congressional or Senate floor. I think the public would love it. Might even wake up a few folks.

[slipslidingaway]

3. knr nt

[flpoljunkie]

4. 'Major financial firm suspected of helping the nation's elite move millions of dollars overseas'

Very interesting, to say the least.

The Washington Post reported separately that top officials in Karzai's government had often blocked corruption investigations of well-connected Afghans, ordering names to be crossed off criminal files.

The senior officials also forced investigators to disregard evidence against executives of a major financial firm suspected of helping the nation's elite move millions of dollars overseas, the Post report said.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/7477619/graft-fears-as-massive-cash-sums-fly-out-of-kabul-wsj

[amborin]

5. while Americans are on the bread lines and homeless, we support a corrupt regime with blood & $$$$$