Taliban gunmen have attacked a police convoy in the district of Shahjoi, situated along the Kabul-Kandahar highway. Reports say that 16 policemen and 10 guerrillas have died in the fighting. Shahjoi is viewed by U.S. and NATO officials as an indicator of the Taliban’s capabilities in Zabul Province.

This week skyreporter revealed that international aid money earmarked to pay police salaries in Zabul has gone missing in the Karzai regime’s Interior Ministry. Governor Delbar Arman told skyreporter that many of Zabul’s policemen haven’t been paid in four months. Salaries were three months in arrears one year ago, in 2006, when U.S. and Canadian officers promised Arman help in establishing a reliable flow of finance from Kabul.

Sources in the Interior Ministry allege that the skimming of foreign aid funds begins at the very top of their department, with Minister Zarar Ahmad Muqbul. At least a third of all international aid flowing through the ministry is said to be pocketed by senior figures. (Please see our previous film report AFGHAN POLICE SALARIES RIPPED OFF BY KABUL REGIME, and the accompanying article THE ROT WITHIN THE REGIME.)

The corruption crisis at the Interior Ministry was thrown into sharp focus in 2005 with the resignation of the previous minister, Ali Jalali, who reportedly failed to receive President Karzai’s support in his attempts to clean house.

Skyreporter took news of Gov. Arman’s predicament to the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Canada currently has $30 million invested in the United Nations-administered program to pay Afghan police salaries, called the Law and Order Trust Fund For Afghanistan (LOTFA). As well, Canada’s top military officer in the southwest of the country in 2006, Gen. David Fraser, relayed Arman’s concerns up the chain of command.

A Foreign Affairs spokesperson responded that: “LOTFA is subject to the internal and external auditing procedures provided for in the financial regulations, rules and directives of the UNDP. Periodical monitoring and evaluation will take place in accordance with UNDP standards. Canadian officials sit on the Steering Committee for LOTFA that meets every quarter to assess the strategy of project activities. Canadian officials also stay in contact with the UNDP officials in Kabul on a regular basis.”