Guardian: Afghanistan security forces report raises fears over long-term stability

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/01/aghanistan-security-forces-report-fears

Afghanistan security forces report raises fears over long-term stability

US government watchdog warns that country is unlikely to be able to maintain facilities after foreign troops pull out in 2014

Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul

1 November 2012

Afghanistan will struggle to maintain its security forces' buildings and equipment after foreign forces leave at the end of 2014, a US government watchdog said in a bleak report that raised serious questions about long-term stability prospects.

The special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction has also announced an audit into $230m ((GBP)142.5m) worth of repair parts ordered for the Afghan army that have gone missing, underlining problems with corruption and accountability.

The $50bn effort to train Afghan security forces initially focused on the fighting skills needed to face the Taliban on the frontline. But critics have long warned that this meant equally important capacities, including logistics networks that can get food, fuel and ammunition to soldiers out in the field, were being dangerously neglected.

The US and Nato are now rushing to correct this imbalance, but may have started too late. Afghanistan will struggle to maintain facilities that cost the US government nearly $12bn to build, the report said.

It added: "The Afghan government continues to face challenges that will likely prohibit it from being capable of fully sustaining (Afghanistan National Security Forces) ANSF facilities after the transition in 2014 and the expected significant decrease in US and coalition support.

"The Afghan government's challenges in assuming O&M (operations and maintenance) responsibilities include a lack of sufficient numbers and quality of personnel, as well as undeveloped budgeting, procurement, and logistics systems."

The army is doing better than the police, who have not put in place the employees or systems needed to be self-sustaining and instead still rely on the US and Nato, the report said. "As a result, US funds invested in the construction and maintenance ... are at risk of being wasted"

One particularly serious challenge is high illiteracy among new recruits, which is the legacy of a weak education system and three decades of war. Qualified applicants are also being lured away by higher salaries in the private sector.

Training centres aim to teach recruits basic reading and writing at the same time that they learn to handle a weapon, but the education needed to manage complex systems cannot be delivered in a few weeks.

Fewer than 40% of organisation and management positions were filled in June this year, the report said. There is also a shortage of technicians able to handle key issues such as water supply, sewage disposal and electricity. Logistics networks have been undermined by serious fraud, which is now endemic in much of Afghanistan.

The planned audit into missing spare parts for the army came after inspectors discovered 474 of 500 shipping containers had gone astray. The loss may have triggered another $137m in spending on replacements.

It is just the latest in a string of corruption concerns unearthed by the special inspector. His office is currently investigating fuel supplies provided to the police, as records on nearly $475m in fuel payments have been shredded, the report said.