KABUL - US special inspector for Afghanistan reconstruction (SIGAR) has said in a report that the Afghan government since 2008 has received one billion dollar inappropriate taxes from American contractors, but the ministry of finance say that only American military are exempt from paying taxes and the contractors of these forces have to pay taxes.

A sample of 43 companies operating under contracts with the Pentagon, State Department or US Agency for International Development has been assessed $921 million of taxes and penalties for unpaid taxes.

A part of the report says that The State Department, the Pentagon and USAID "appear to be failing" in their effort to prevent the taxation because they lacked a "unified position," that "has allowed the Afghan government to exploit" differences between the US agencies and "has created an uncertain business environment.

"US agencies need to have assurance from the Afghan government that"

US tax dollars "used to build schools, roads, health clinics, water treatment facilities and funds spent to secure the country are not improperly taxed," John Sopko SIGAR said.

Under previously negotiated agreements between US agencies and the Afghan government, US military services men should be exempt from Afghan taxes but the ministry of finance says that these American contractors can't be included into this agreement.

"From one side they pretend that the Afghan government has asked about billion dollars tax and from the other side they say that they have paid about 100 million dollar as tax. Mr Sopko himself proves that US contractors still have to pay 900 million dollar for the Afghan government," Najibullah Manali media advisor of Ministry of Finance told TOLOnews.

Apparently, circumstances of taxpaying US contractors in the country will be part of talks regarding US military presence after 2014 in Afghanistan, the taxes which are supposed to be spent in Afghanistan reconstruction. (Tolo News)