Counter Threat Finance: U.S. Agencies Do Not Know the Full Cost and Impact of Their Efforts to Disrupt Illicit Narcotics Financing in Afghanistan
Abstract
In September 2018, the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control (Senate caucus) requested that SIGAR conduct a review of the U.S. governments counter narcotics initiatives in Afghanistan, including counter threat finance (CTF) efforts against the Afghan terrorist narcotics trade. In August 2017, the then U.S. Administration initiated its Strategy in Afghanistan and South Asia ("South Asia Strategy"). This strategy, among other things, expands U.S. authority to target terrorist and criminal networks, and maximize sanctions and other financial and law enforcement actions against these networks to eliminate their ability to export terror. Several U.S. departments and agencies work to counter terrorist and criminal financing in Afghanistan, including the Departments of Defense (DOD), Justice (DOJ) (of which the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is a component), State (State), and the Treasury (Treasury). (Hereafter, we refer to all of the departments and the one agency as "agencies" unless stated otherwise.)This audit addresses the Senate caucus request to review U.S. CTF efforts in Afghanistan since January 2017 to disrupt the Talibans and other organizations' illicit narcotics financing in Afghanistan. Specifically, our objectives were to (1) identify the CTF efforts and funding U.S. agencies have directed at the Afghan terrorist narcotics trade in Afghanistan; (2) determine the extent to which U.S. agencies measure and evaluate the effectiveness of CTF efforts directed at the Afghan terrorist narcotics trade in Afghanistan; and, (3) identify what challenges, if any, affect CTF efforts and how the agencies are addressing these challenges.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1149076
Entities
People
- John Sopko
Organizations
- Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction