Quarterly Report to the United States Congress
Abstract
I am pleased to submit to Congress and the Secretaries of State and Defense, SIGAR's 40th quarterly report on the status of reconstruction in Afghanistan. In the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017, Congress directed SIGAR to assess the Afghan government's implementation of its national anticorruption strategy and the action plans of five ministries. This quarter, SIGAR released its assessment. As described in Section Two of this report, SIGAR found that the Afghan government has begun to implement an anticorruption strategy, but that significant questions remain regarding its ability to fully implement the strategy and demonstrate a lasting commitment to combatting corruption. As directed by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, SIGAR will submit an updated assessment to Congress next year that includes an examination of whether the Afghan government is making progress toward achieving its anticorruption objectives. SIGAR will also be looking into concerns raised by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and by other officials and donors during my most recent trip to Afghanistan in June. As discussed in Section Three of this report, DOJ views the situation in Afghanistan as "consistent with a largely lawless, weak, and dysfunctional government" with many corruption cases languishing due to the lack of political will - rather than capacity - of the Afghan government. We share the concern of donors that the Afghan government may be going back to "business as usual" and simply "checking the box" when it comes to fighting corruption. In particular, SIGAR is concerned that the specialized anticorruption court established by President Ashraf Ghani in May 2016, the Anti-Corruption Justice Center (ACJC), has shown little ability to function as intended.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 30, 2018
- Accession Number
- AD1138344
Entities
People
- John Sopko
Organizations
- Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction