"Concerned about the safety of US military helicopters and cargo planes landing in southern Afghanistan, US defense officials recently purchased five Stinger antiaircraft missiles from local warlords around Kandahar for $150,000 each, according to two officials familiar with the effort. ...
The number of Stingers left in Afghanistan is not known, but some estimates put it between 50 and 100, with the majority in the southern region. In the mid-1980s, the CIA delivered up to 500 of the heat-seeking missiles to Afghan mujahideen fighting Soviet troops.
Since then, US officials have mounted periodic campaigns to buy back the missiles, including one in the mid-1990s for the price of $100,000 each.
"
full story here...
question: is this a good idea? is it worth the money to get them back? or wouldn't this just help finance more terrorism? have they been making more based on studying the ones we gave them? |
