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Pentagon to keep secret military spending in Afghanistan

The Pentagon will keep secret how billions of US taxpayer dollars are being spent in Afghanistan.

The US Defense Department has decided to keep secret its massive spending in Afghanistan, according to Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR).

“[The Pentagon] is about to come and scrub our computers of the data,” Alex Bronstein-Moffl, SIGAR’s director of public affairs, told Fusion.

According to a report by SIGAR, the institution can no longer track how billions of American taxpayer dollars are being spent in Afghanistan.

“The decision leaves SIGAR unable to publicly report on most of the $65 billion US-taxpayer-funded efforts to build, train, equip, and sustain the ANSF. This includes Afghan troop numbers, salaries, training, equipment (including planes and helicopters), and infrastructure projects,” SIGAR said in a release.

According to the release, the decision is unprecedented as it would make SIGAR, for the first time in six years, unable to publicly report on US military spending in that country.

US Army Commanding Gen. John Campbell wrote a letter to the Inspector General saying the Pentagon made the decision for possible threats posed to “our forces and those of Afghanistan”.

However, Campbell said that he cannot give the “precise reason” why some of the information was regarded as unclassified in the past.

The Pentagon decision would blur the assessment of the outcome of US war in Afghanistan as well as the state of the campaign against the Taliban.

The US and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but insecurity continues across the country despite the presence of thousands of US-led troops.

The US-led combat mission in Afghanistan ended on December 31, 2014. However, at least 13,500 foreign forces, mainly from the United States, have remained in Afghanistan in what the US is calling a support mission.

Obama said the remaining troops in Afghanistan would only be involved in training Afghan forces.

However, according to The New York Times, the president secretly signed an order that allows US troops to be involved in combat operations in the country throughout 2015.

AT/AT


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