U.S. contractors failed to train Afghan police to adjust AK-47 sights [View All]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

U.S. contractors failed to train Afghan police to adjust AK-47 sights
By David Goldstein, McClatchy Newspapers Thu Apr 15, 7:47 pm ET

WASHINGTON — For several years, Afghan police recruits under the tutelage of private U.S. government contractors couldn't understand why their marksmanship never improved.

The answer became clear earlier this year. Italian contractors also helping to train Afghan volunteers showed them that the sights on their AK-47s and M-16s had never been adjusted.

"We're paying somebody to teach these people to shoot these weapons, and nobody ever bothered to check their sites?" Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri said, after relating that story at a hearing Thursday.

To McCaskill, who chaired the hearing of the Senate Contracting Oversight panel, it illustrated why the U.S. has spent more than $6 billion on private contractors, but the police-training program remains rife with problems.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100415/wl_mcclatchy/3478920