Watchdog seeks details on Afghan security forces

A top government watchdog wants details about the current and future makeup of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) to better forecast the costs of maintaining security in Afghanistan.

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) is asking top commanders to provide the information by March 5 so it can better “understand the process for determining the optimal size and structure of the ANSF and the associated costs of supporting those forces.”

{mosads}”The Afghan government is expected to face serious budgetary challenges for the foreseeable future, and the United States and other international donors will most likely be relied upon to support the ANSF for years to come,” said the letter sent last week to Gen. John Campbell, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, and Maj. Gen. Todd Semonite, chief of the international security team, the Combined Security Transition Command (CSTC-A).

The letter from Special Inspector General John F. Sopko was made public Tuesday.

To date, $50 billion has been doled out for the Afghanistan Security Forces Fund, which provides assistance, equipment and training to local forces, according to Sopko.

Sopko is asking commanders to provide the detailed information on Afghan forces after two conflicting assessments of the needed troop-levels to maintain security.

A 2014 Defense Department report on the Afghan security forces — which includes the national army, air force, and national police — put the current troop level at 352,000.

An assessment from the Center for Naval Analyses in 2014 concluded that to maintain security through 2018, the Afghans would need a force of approximately 373,000 soldiers and police officers.

However, Sopko that officers from the international security force were citing a recent “force-optimization” study that planned for a “future reduction” to Afghan forces.

“This apparent discrepancy between assessments of requisite ANSF end-strength raises questions regarding the U.S. government’s ability to anticipate future costs associated with support of those forces,” the special inspector said.

He asked Campbell and Semonite to provide a bevy of information, including: the assessments used to determine the current end-strength of 352,000; what security objectives the ANSF will support; breakdowns of personnel levels in the National Directorate for Security, the Afghan Public Protection Force, the Afghan Local Police and those of the Defense and Interior ministries; and a copy of the force optimization study.

Their responses will “account for funds disbursed from the Afghanistan Security Forces Fund and other reconstruction funds used to support the ANSF both now and in the future,” he added.

The letter was sent days before Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s first visit to Afghanistan as Pentagon chief.

During his visit there last weekend, Carter lauded the native forces there.

“The Afghan security forces have become a powerful force in their own right, and good partners in their own way,” he said.

Lawmakers and many military experts, though, have questioned if Afghan forces will be able to maintain security once international forces hand over responsibilities.