“More than $300 million in annual US government funding for Afghan National Police (ANP) salaries is based on partially verified or reconciled personnel and payroll data,” SIGAR reported on Thursday. “The [Afghan Ministry of Interior] MOI does not have sufficient controls in place to ensure that this data is accurate and that ANP personnel are receiving their intended salaries, increasing the risk that US funding for salaries could be wasted or abused.”
SIGAR reported that nearly 20% of ANP personnel are at risk of not receiving full payment due to limited oversight and corrupt government agents, which could result in a policeman losing as much as 50% of their salary.
Since 2002, SIGAR said it has identified billions in taxpayer dollars wasted on reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, for a number of reasons, including a failed war on opium, unused transport planes and poorly-designed prison facilities, in addition to contractor fraud and government corruption.
The United States has appropriated more than $107 billion for relief and reconstruction in Afghanistan between 2002 and 2014, with about 60% of that dedicated to security and nearly 30% earmarked for governance and development projects, according to the report.
On December 31, NATO ended its security ISAF mission in the country, created in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attack and the invasion of Afghanistan. It was replaced with Resolute Support, a non-combat NATO-led mission, tasked with training, advising and assisting Afghan security forces. Approximately 13,500 NATO soldiers, mostly from the United States, will remain in Afghanistan.
