US medicines for Afghan soldiers disappear
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US-donated medicines and pharmaceutical supplies meant to keep the new Afghan Army and the police healthy have been disappearing before reaching Afghan military hospitals and clinics, and the government said it is removing the Army's top medical officer from his post as part of an investigation into alleged corruption.
Afghan defense minister Gen Abdul Rahim Wardak told The Associated Press that surgeon general Ahmad Zia Yaftali was being removed from his post as part of the inquiry.
Three officials from the country's top medical facility, Dawood national military hospital in Kabul, have been fired, he said.
It's unclear just how much has gone missing of the $42 million worth of medical goods the US has donated in 2010, and whether any Afghan soldiers have died as a result.
US officials say they do not account for the supplies after delivering them to the Afghans.
The Americans have repeatedly urged Afghan President Hamid Karzai to root out government corruption to show that his administration can be a true partner in re-establishing control over the country.
However, many anti-corruption campaigns have stalled. And last summer, Karzai blocked an investigation into high-level aides supposedly accepting bribes.
Embezzlement of army funds, if proven, would be particularly worrying because the rapidly expanding military is seen as key to the Nato exit strategy.
The US is focussed on training Afghans so they can take over authority for securing the country in 2014.
A US military official said that American-supplied medicines, along with additional donated funds, should have been enough for the entire Afghan Army.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he said any announcement should come from the Afghan Government.
However, Afghan army units around the country complain of shortages of medicines, including morphine and antibiotics.
Officials say patients at Dawood Hospital often go without adequate medicine, don't get their dressings changed and are left unattended by doctors who skip rounds to work at private clinics.
Expensive equipment also has disappeared, an Afghan Army official familiar with the investigation said. In at least one case, diagnostic machines meant for the army have ended up in private clinics in Kabul, said the official, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorised to talk to reporters.
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