PAGHMAN, Afghanistan — There's a new twist to the way money problems plaguing Afghanistan's national government are reflecting on peace-support efforts in the war-torn country.

Already known for graft and other corruption, the Afghan police and military, some of whom haven't been paid in months, have begun asking for reward money for turning in illicit weapons and ammunition to Canadian soldiers, serving as part of the International Security Assistance Force.

It happened Monday in the mountainous region northwest of the capital, where Sgt. Peter Albert took a section of armoured troops to collect some rockets, anti-tank rounds and mortars from the local Afghan secret police headquarters.

"It's been a political nightmare trying to get this stuff out of here," said Albert, a native of Georgetown, Ont. "We were told in September this stuff had been taken in a raid two weeks earlier."

"It has taken us to November to get the job done. They said they wanted it for `evidence.' What they really wanted was to sell it to us."

Albert didn't pay, and ended up taking away the 13, 60-millimetre high-explosive mortar bombs, the 11, 1 82-mm recoilless rifle rounds and 10, 122-mm rockets anyway.

Most of the ammunition was Soviet-made, according to a weapons manual that Sgt. Michael Thompson has dubbed Little Mikey's Book of Bombs. Thompson is one of two engineer detachment commanders who, between them, have destroyed 1,400 rounds since August.

Albert's section waited patiently for the area governor to arrive, feted him with photographs and then carted the 34 pieces of munitions away to a sandbagged truck for transport, storage and ultimate destruction.

Soldiers like Cpl. Bryan Toope of Ottawa cradled the 122-mm rockets the way they were taught -- just like a baby. It made for a stark comparison with a burka-clad woman passerby who was carrying her baby in much the same way.

Some of the rounds were rusting, and one was was leaking so badly it was considered too volatile to transport any further than an Afghan army outpost a few kilometres away. Thompson, an Alberta native, and Master Cpl. Sean Benedict of Windsor, Ont., wired it and blew it up.

Albert took the opportunity to lecture the two Afghan soldiers manning the outpost on the evils of extortion.

Soldiers and police are known for setting up checkpoints at key entry points to the capital, stopping trucks and extracting "tolls" from their drivers. Some even issue receipts.

Albert had no proof, but he suspected the pair were extorting cash after they stopped a truck and appeared to take money. One of the Afghans said he hadn't been paid in eight months and claimed the money was a Ramadan gift.

The Canadian sergeant wasn't buying his story.

"People who do this are just creating a lot of resentment and bad feeling among (ordinary) Afghans," Albert told them through an interpreter.

Albert said he had no illusions about the effect such lectures or the seizure of a few dozen rounds of ammunition might have on the overall picture in a country as dysfunctional as Afghanistan.

"(But) every little bit counts for something," he said. "I know we can't fix the world but whatever little effort we can make to patch it, it's a start.

"Nine times out of 10, whenever we stop to pick up stuff, people come running with more."

And, after a while, it starts to add up.

The 24 rounds went into storage, along with 600 more rockets and 35, 250-kilogram bombs. Some 50 tonnes of ammunition is scheduled to blown up south of Kabul sometime soon.