Report: Safety Systems for Afghan Bombs Inadequate

The official overseeing spending in Afghanistan is warning commanders that a safety system to protect U.S. troops from roadside bombs is incomplete or inadequate.

John Sopko, special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, sent a safety alert to top generals saying a contractor who was supposed to construct safety systems against the bombs did not complete the work or did it badly in some places.

The $362,000 contract given to an Afghan company was to put grates over culverts so insurgents could not to get into them and plant bombs under highways traveled by troops.

Because a criminal investigation is under way, a spokesman for Sopko declined to name the company or comment on whether the suspected fraud has resulted in any troop deaths.