AFGHANISTAN/MILITARY: “The U.S. has invested 16 years and more than $70 billion to train Afghan security forces, but the effort has been undermined by poor planning, training and oversight, a government watchdog said in a report Thursday.
The 259-page report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or Sigar, offered a critical assessment of one of the top goals of the U.S. effort in Afghanistan—to train local forces so they can secure Afghanistan on their own.
The report details how unprepared the U.S. was to train local forces when the war began in 2001 and concludes many of the problems that hampered the early days of the war still exist…
The U.S. had no initial means for training the Afghan police and army, focusing instead on carrying out its military plan. Once U.S. troops began to conduct training, they didn’t get the proper tools to train local forces in a country where 70% of the population is illiterate, the report said…
The U.S. embassy currently is short staffed and largely confined to Kabul, which ‘hinders building working relationships, trust, and follow-through on critical missions with direct negative impact on our military and reconstruction efforts,’ Mr. Sopko said.
The report recommends the U.S. better match advisers to the needs of the Afghan security forces, allow for more congressional oversight of the U.S. training program and provide a ‘stateside element [that] should be staffed with civilian and uniformed personnel on tours of no less than four years in support of the Afghanistan four-year plan.’
The Pentagon said it has had productive discussions with the researchers involved in the report.”
-Nancy A. Youssef, “U.S. Bungled $70 Billion Mission to Train Afghan Forces: Report,” The Wall Street Journal online, Sept. 21, 2017 08:42pm