Washington, July 25 : US taxpayer money was diverted to the Taliban under a 2.16 billion dollars transportation contract that the United States has funded in part to promote Afghan businesses, a year-long military-led investigation has revealed.

According to a summary of the investigation results, the military found `documented, credible evidence of involvement in a criminal enterprise or support for the enemy' by four of the eight prime contractors, the Washington Post reports.

Investigators also cited cases of profiteering, money laundering and kickbacks to Afghan power brokers, government officials and police officers. Six of the companies were found to have been associated with `fraudulent paperwork and behavior.'

The military summary included several case studies in which money was traced from the US Treasury through a labyrinth of subcontractors and power brokers, the paper said.

In one, investigators followed a 7.4 million dollar payment to one of the eight companies, which in turn paid a subcontractor, who hired other subcontractors to supply trucks.

The trucking subcontractors then made deposits into an Afghan National Police commander's account, already swollen with payments from other subcontractors, in exchange for guarantees of safe passage for the convoys.

Intelligence officials traced 3.3 million dollars, withdrawn in 27 transactions from the commander's account that was transferred to insurgents in the form of weapons, explosives and cash, the paper said.

A senior US defense official said that a radically revised transport system, replacing the Host Nation Trucking contract when it expires in September, would be announced in a few weeks.

Based on the findings of the investigation, the new contract will expand the number of companies from eight to at least 30 and change the security system for the truck convoys.

Six of the eight companies chosen as prime contractors under the Host Nation Trucking contract are owned by Afghans or are joint Afghan-international ventures.

Two are considered US-owned, including the Washington-based Sandi Group and NCL Holdings, whose founder and president, Hamed Wardak, is the son of Afghanistan's defense minister.

The new investigation, conducted by a military-led task force that included officials from the FBI, Treasury and US intelligence, did not identify which of the companies are implicated in payments to insurgents, nor does it quantify how much money has been misspent or transferred to insurgents. (ANI)