Daylight in the Swamp

From the Wall Street Journal (via the EarlyBird):

U.N. Fires Officials At Its Afghan Fund

By Dion Nissenbaum

KABUL—The United Nations fired three officials running its $1.4 billion Afghanistan police trust fund as the first step in what is expected to be a broader shake-up at the program currently facing an internal investigation of mismanagement, according to U.N. and Western officials.

Problems with the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan became public last month, when The Wall Street Journal reported that international donors were concerned about possible abuses at the fund. The trust fund's main contributors are the U.S., the European Union and Japan.

While UNDP officials initially dismissed Journal reports about mismanagement allegations at Lotfa, the U.N. now says that its own investigation of problems at the fund preceded these articles—and that it is taking allegations of abuse seriously.

In other news, U.N. officials were outraged to discover that Spinal Tap isn’t a real band . . . .