Pic of the day
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UlstermanAbroad
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Its the entire Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police on parade.View attachment 93034
No prize I'm afraid. But, see if you can guess what this is.
Clue. Its an empty piece of land in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Answer later this evening. If nobody gets it first
The ex-Finance Minister of Afghanistan has stated that the 300,000 man army
did not, in fact, exist. Courtesy of the BBC.
Afghanistan's ghost soldiers undermined fight against Taliban - ex-official
Published10 hours ago
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Image caption,
Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in August
Afghanistan's ex-finance minister has blamed the government's fall on corrupt officials who invented "ghost soldiers" and took payments from the Taliban.
Khalid Payenda told the BBC that most of the 300,000 troops and police on the government's books did not exist.
He said phantom personnel were added to official lists so that generals could pocket their wages.
The Taliban rapidly seized control of Afghanistan in August, as US forces withdrew after 20 years in the country.
Mr Payenda, who resigned and left Afghanistan as the Islamist group advanced, said records showing that security forces greatly outnumbered the Taliban were incorrect.
"The way the accountability was done, you would ask the chief in that province how many people you have and based on that you could calculate salaries and ration expenses and they would always be inflated," he told Ed Butler, presenter of the BBC's Business Daily programme.
The former minister said the numbers may have been inflated by more than six times, and included "desertions [and] martyrs who were never accounted for because some of the commanders would keep their bank cards" and withdraw their salaries, he alleged.
There have long been questions over Afghan troop numbers.
A 2016 report by the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (Sigar) claimed that "neither the United States nor its Afghan allies know how many Afghan soldiers and police actually exist, how many are in fact available for duty, or, by extension, the true nature of their operational capabilities".
In a more recent report, Sigar expressed "serious concerns about the corrosive effects of corruption... and the questionable accuracy of data on the actual strength of the force".
Mr Payenda said that troops who did exist were often not paid on time, while there were leaders of government-backed militias who were "double-dipping" - taking their government wage, and then also accepting payments from the Taliban to give up without a fight.
- EXPLAINER: Ten days that shook Afghanistan
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He said he did not think former President Ashraf Ghani was "financially corrupt". Responding to accusations of corruption within the finance ministry, Mr Payenda said: "I agree with that to a certain extent but in these issues, absolutely not."
He added that the West was "part of" some of the failures in Afghanistan, and described the US and Nato's involvement in the country as "a great opportunity lost".
zagatoes30
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The Italian design houses were on fire at this time, some of the most radical concept cars came from that small group Giorgetto Giugiaro, Marcello Gandini (Bertone) and Leonardo Fioravanti, Paolo Martin (Pininfarina) but what they produced were just out of this world
Phil H
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Not forgetting Zagato!
www.zagato.it
www.zagato.it
Modern designers seem to be stuck in the rut of just evolving existing models with little originality coming through. Yes I know they have to keep costs down and eco warriors are looking over their shoulders so a lot happens under the skin, but back in 'the good old days' it was exciting to see manufacturers with true portfolios from great designers rather than variations on a theme which is so common now. If ICE cars must disappear that should be an opportunity for designers to raise their game, and I don't see it. Still, we have the NEC classic bash to reminisce this weekend so.......
BTW, I know that a lot of Zagato's stuff is/was variation on a theme, but at least it was beautifully executed.
Zagato
www.zagato.it
Frame
www.zagato.it
Modern designers seem to be stuck in the rut of just evolving existing models with little originality coming through. Yes I know they have to keep costs down and eco warriors are looking over their shoulders so a lot happens under the skin, but back in 'the good old days' it was exciting to see manufacturers with true portfolios from great designers rather than variations on a theme which is so common now. If ICE cars must disappear that should be an opportunity for designers to raise their game, and I don't see it. Still, we have the NEC classic bash to reminisce this weekend so.......
BTW, I know that a lot of Zagato's stuff is/was variation on a theme, but at least it was beautifully executed.
zagatoes30
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Another from Marcello Gandini
zagatoes30
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Loved Can Am racing anything for maximum power
conaero
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I have been thinking the same but this has restored faith in modern designers that they can stil take an alternate path and create something truley stunningNot forgetting Zagato!
Zagato
Frame
Modern designers seem to be stuck in the rut of just evolving existing models with little originality coming through. Yes I know they have to keep costs down and eco warriors are looking over their shoulders so a lot happens under the skin, but back in 'the good old days' it was exciting to see manufacturers with true portfolios from great designers rather than variations on a theme which is so common now. If ICE cars must disappear that should be an opportunity for designers to raise their game, and I don't see it. Still, we have the NEC classic bash to reminisce this weekend so.......
BTW, I know that a lot of Zagato's stuff is/was variation on a theme, but at least it was beautifully executed.
Oneball
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lifes2short
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porsche 917 alloy chassis, apparently only weighing 42 kilos
midlifecrisis
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Beer bottle label...
zagatoes30
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Love the Thunderbolt, a plane for a specific purpose doing as much damage as possible
zagatoes30
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Stratos Zero, bonkers