With president Obama escalating the war in Afghanistan, forcing US taxpayers to cough up fresh billions to enable the Pentagon to chase down a few hundred Taliban fighters, and a captured US soldier warning that Afghanistan is turning into Vietnam, it's hard to ignore a cover story in The Nation that US taxpayers might be funding the insurgents, and making defense contractors very rich.

The Nation reports that the scam sees contractors are paying the Taliban to protect American supply lines. At the heart of it is the Defense Department's $2.2 billion Host Nation Trucking contract which involves no less than eight contractors. One of the contractors is NCL Holdings, a US firm headed by Hamed Wardak. He just happens to be the Afghan-American son of Afghanistan's defense minister, Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak. Surprise surprise.

According to The Nation, Wardak has been running a massive lobbying campaign to keep the US in Afghanistan. It's an expensive exercise but given that the company is making $45 million on the contract, it's worth the investment.

The Nation reports that a "preliminary inquiry" is under way but more needs to be done. These sorts of shenanigans are not just costing taxpayers. They're costing lives.