U.S. Civilian Uplift in Afghanistan Has Cost Nearly $2 Billion, and State Should Continue to Strengthen Its Management and Oversight of the Funds Transferred to Other Agencies

摘要

In 2009, President Obama announced a new, comprehensive U.S. strategy for Afghanistan aimed at disrupting, dismantling, and defeating al- Qaeda. A key element of the strategy is the expansion of civilian-led efforts to build Afghan governing capacity at all levels, improve the rule of law, and initiate sustainable economic growth. A significant increase or 'uplift' in U.S. civilian employees deployed to Afghanistan supports this effort. In addition to significant infrastructure and security costs, it costs the U.S. government between about $410,000 and $570,000 to deploy one employee to Afghanistan for 1 year. Despite this cost, no agency has comprehensively assessed the cost of establishing and sustaining the civilian uplift or the mechanisms in place to ensure uplift funds are used appropriately. SIGAR and State OIG jointly conducted an audit to (1) determine the number of personnel and associated costs of the civilian uplift, (2) evaluate State's mechanisms to transfer funds to other agencies to support civilian uplift personnel, and (3) assess the costs of sustaining and supporting the civilian presence in Afghanistan and State's plans to address these costs. To address these objectives, we collected data from all agencies that have deployed uplift personnel, interviewed officials from these agencies, and reviewed inter- and intra-agency documentation. We conducted work in Washington, D.C., and Kabul, Afghanistan, from October 2010 to July 2011, in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.