Afghanistan

Developing capable Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and building the capacity of the Afghan government through development assistance efforts are critical to supporting the drawdown of U.S. forces from Afghanistan beginning July 2011 and eventually transitioning responsibility of the country from the international community to the Afghan government. Since 2002, the United States has allocated more than $55 billion to support Afghan security, governance, development and other related efforts, including about $30 billion in support of the ANSF. Key challenges include the following:

• The Department of Defense will need to take steps to address the shortage of trainers and identify future growth and sustainment costs for the Afghan National Army. In addition, the Secretaries of Defense and State will need to provide dedicated personnel to support the retraining of Afghan National Police units.

  Highlights of GAO-11-66 (PDF), Highlights of GAO-09-280 (PDF)

• The U.S. Agency for International Development should continue taking steps to address limited institutional capacity and corruption in Afghanistan to ensure oversight and accountability of U.S. direct assistance funds provided to Afghan government ministries.

  Full Report of GAO-10-932T (PDF)

• Significant to U.S. reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, is building the capacity of Afghan government institutions to manage, implement, and oversee U.S. funds.

  Full Report of GAO-10-932T (PDF), Full Report of GAO-10-655R (PDF)

• The U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator will need to take steps to improve the planning, monitoring, and evaluation of U.S. development efforts in Afghanistan.

  Full Report of GAO-10-932T (PDF), Highlights of GAO-10-368 (PDF), Highlights of GAO-11-138 (PDF)