How the U.S. Funds Afghan Taliban

It's no wonder that the U.S. is mired in Afghanistan, considering that U.S. military officials in Kabul estimate that at least 10 percent of the Pentagon's logistics contracts—hundreds of millions of dollars—are going straight into the pockets of insurgents. The Nation reports that, essentially, "the U.S. military's contractors are forced to pay suspected insurgents to protect American supply routes." Security firms protecting convoys headed for hostile terrain in the south of Afghanistan can't protect American goods without paid Taliban cooperation, in part due to rules aimed at preventing collateral damage, which ban companies shipping American military supplies from using weapons heavier than a rifle. The Taliban, on the other hand, use weapons that can kill a driver from 3,000 feet away, plus, rocket-propelled grenades that can blow up an armed vehicle. They own the roads, and the U.S. must pay to use them or else risk attack.