As much as $60billion in U.S. funds has been lost to waste and fraud in the past decade of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, it has been claimed. The billions have been lost through lax oversight of contractors, poor planning and payoffs to warlords and insurgents, according to a panel set up by the U.S. government. Damningly, it found that the Afghan insurgency's second biggest funding source after the trade in heroin is the diversion of money from U.S. backed projects and contracts. The news comes at the end of the deadliest month yet for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, with 66 servicemen killed, according to an Associated Press tally. In its final report to Congress, the Commission on Wartime Contracting said at least $31billion has been wasted in wars in the past decade - and the total could be as high as $60billion. It called the estimate 'conservative' and warned it could yet grow as U.S. forces pull out, leaving infrastructure paid for by American tax money to crumble. Based on its investigations, the commission said contracting waste in Afghanistan ranged from 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the $206billion spent on contracts and grants. Fraud during the same period ran between 5 percent and 9 percent of the total, the report said. The report does not indicate how much money has been funnelled to the insurgency, but claims funds are typically lost when insurgents and warlords extort protection money from Afghan subcontractors. Earlier this month it was reported that U.S. military authorities in Kabul estimate 360million in U.S. tax dollars has ended up in the hands of the Taliban and other enemies. Taliban fighters hold their weapons at a secret base in eastern Afghanistan. The insurgents second biggest funding source is U.S. taxpayers money The latest report is the most comprehensive examination yet of the U.S.'s dependence on contractors and the government's ability to manage them in combat areas. The commission found that in early 2010 there were more contract employees 262,000 supporting U.S. agencies in Iraq and Afghanistan than there were military and federal civilian personnel in both countries. There are other considerations related to what the commission called an 'unhealthy over-reliance' on the private sector for combat support and reconstruction work. Contractors are handling duties that U.S. laws and regulations require government employees to perform, it said. Agencies often hire contractors to help evaluate or support the management of other contractors, which can lead to serious conflicts of interests, the report said. 'Ten years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan have seen the United States using too many contractors for too many functions with too little forethought and control,' it said. The heavy dependence on contractors also obscures the full human cost of war, according to the commission. Contractor deaths and injuries largely have been undercounted and unpublicized by the U.S. government and the media, the report said. Between October 2001 and July 2011, 2,429 contractors were reported by their employers to have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. There were 6,131 U.S. military fatalities during the same period. Contractors are handling duties that U.S. laws and regulations require government employees to perform, it said. Agencies often hire contractors to help evaluate or support the management of other contractors, which can lead to serious conflicts of interests, the report said. 'Ten years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan have seen the United States using too many contractors for too many functions with too little forethought and control,' it said. The heavy dependence on contractors also obscures the full human cost of war, according to the commission. Contractor deaths and injuries largely have been undercounted and unpublicized by the U.S. government and the media, the report said. Between October 2001 and July 2011, 2,429 contractors were reported by their employers to have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. There were 6,131 U.S. military fatalities during the same period. (The Mail)