Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction Quarterly Report to the United States Congress
Abstract
I am pleased to submit to Congress, and the Secretaries of State and Defense, SIGAR's 37th quarterly report on the status of the U.S. reconstruction effort in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is at a crossroads. President Donald Trump's new strategy has clarified that the Taliban and Islamic State-Khorosan will not cause the United States to leave. At the same time, the strategy requires the Afghan government to set the conditions that would allow America to stay the course. One such requirement is effective action against corruption. The National Unity Government recently adopted an ambitious anticorruption strategy as pledged at the Brussels Conference in 2016. Congress has asked SIGAR to play a special role in evaluating the Afghan government's performance against the goals they have set for themselves. This quarter I traveled to Afghanistan to meet with President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, as well as Afghan ministers, U.S. officials, and ambassadors from other donor nations to discuss this critical process. President Ghani promised to give SIGAR access to his ministries and their books and records in order to assess their internal controls over U.S. budget assistance. He also promised to issue a presidential decree ordering Afghan officials to cooperate fully with the SIGAR assessment. Chief Executive Abdullah pledged his support for both measures. The anticorruption strategy and other Afghan reforms dominated discussion at the Senior Officials Meeting in October; at a Kandahar ceremony marking the U.S. delivery of UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters for the Afghan Air Force; and at a meeting I attended of the High Council on the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption. On each occasion, President Ghani noted the National Unity Governments close cooperation with SIGAR and thanked us for our help fighting corruption. At the Kandahar ceremony, President Ghani vowed to account for every penny of American assistance to his government.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 30, 2017
- Accession Number
- AD1139848
Entities
People
- Cameron Moubray
- Clark Irwin
- Daniel Fisher
- Daniel Weggeland
- Deborah Scroggins
- Emmett Schneider
- Hannaka Spillman
- Heather Robinson
- James Misencik
- John Sopko
- Michael Bindell
- Olivia Paek
- Solange T. Gaba
- Vong Lim
Organizations
- Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction