2 years after Nato steps down, Afghan forces still struggle
WASHINGTON: Two years after Nato handed responsibility for Afghanistan’s security to local forces, the country remains crippled by corruption and its troops can barely hold the Taliban at bay, a US inspector said Wednesday.
Since US-led Nato troops stopped leading patrols and stepped into an advisory and support role at the end of 2014, Afghan army and police forces have suffered thousands of casualties and face continual assaults from a wellfunded and well-armed Taliban.
“As much as I wish I could say much has improved in Afghanistan over the past two years, I cannot,” John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), told a Washington think tank.
Sopko was speaking as his agency published a list of highrisk threats to Afghanistan, less than two weeks before incoming President- elect Donald Trump takes office.
Just as President Barack Obama did eight years ago, Trump is inheriting an Afghan conflict that seems impossible to resolve.
Trump has offered few indications of his plans for Afghanistan.
In a 2013 tweet, he said “Let’s get out” of the country and said the money America spends there would be better used at home.
Neither he nor his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton gave Afghanistan more than a passing mention during the presidential campaign.
Sopko noted the number of armed groups opposing the Afghan government is growing, and said the amount of Afghan districts under government control or influence dropped from 70.5 per cent at the start of 2016 to just 63.4 per cent by the end of August.
The Afghan army is “basically playing whack- a-mole following the Taliban around Afghanistan,” Sopko said.
“At a minimum, they’re playing defense and are not taking the fight to the Taliban.” Underscoring the fragile security situation, bombings across three Afghan cities including Kabul killed around 50 people and wounded 100 others Tuesday, in a day of carnage as Taliban insurgents escalated their deadly winter campaign of violence.
To date, America has spent more than US$ 115 billion in US taxpayer money on reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan.
When warfighting costs are
As much as I wish I could say much has improved in Afghanistan over the past two years, I cannot.
included, the United States has spent close to US$ 1 trillion.
Complicating matters, a long- standing issue of Afghan commanders lying about troop numbers to swindle the payment system remains a stubborn problem.
The Afghan army likely still has tens of thousands of these phantom troops on its payrolls, Sopko said.
“Afghan commanders often pocket the paychecks of ‘ghost soldiers’ for whom the US is paying salaries,” he said.
He added there is evidence the Taliban has instructed field commanders to buy US- supplied weapons, fuel and ammunition from Afghan soldiers.
“To do so is both easier and less expensive for the insurgents,” he told the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, noting that the Taliban were now part of the US-provided weapons ‘supply chain.’ — AFP
John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction