Fake news: 2 million rounds of U.S. ammo turns up in Afghanistan

Millions of rounds of U.S. ammunition hasn’t wound up in enemy hands, despite what a story circulating on Facebook claims. The story says the rounds disappeared during President Barack Obama’s presidency and were recently discovered in Afghanistan.

"2 million rounds of ammo that ‘went missing’ under Obama turns up in enemy hands," states the Nov. 13 headline in world-newss.com.

One of many signs that the article is fake is that the website misspelled "news." We left a comment on the website and did not hear a reply. Facebook users flagged the post as being potentially fabricated, as part of the social network’s efforts to combat fake news.

The article lists as its source a Nov. 9 article from defense-usa.club, another known peddler of deliberately false news stories.

The article attributes the information to "an insider report from the office of the Quartermaster at the Pentagon." It states that the ammunition went missing in 2010 and was recently recovered by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The article quoted Brig. General George Mason’s assistant chief of staff: "This was a huge violation of the public trust, not to mention an incredibly bold theft from the U.S. taxpayer. Sources say the Taliban paid nearly a dollar a round. Someone in Obama’s circle pocketed that money."

All of that, however, appears to be made up.

We searched news accounts and found no mentions of missing ammunition discovered in Afghanistan. Major Adrian J.T. Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, told PolitiFact that there hasn’t been a recent discovery of 2 million U.S. rounds of ammunition in Afghanistan.

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To top it off, "We're not aware of a Brigadier General George Mason in any position of responsibility in Afghanistan," Rankine-Galloway said. "There's no such thing as ‘the Quartermaster at the Pentagon.’ "

There is no evidence that 2 million rounds of U.S. ammunition went missing and were discovered in Afghanistan.

We rate this claim Pants on Fire.