World Bank and the Afghan Government Have Established Mechanisms to Monitor and Account for Funds Contributed to the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, but Some Limitations and Challenges Should Be Addressed

摘要

In 2010, the United States and other donors pledged to channel at least 50 percent of development assistance through Afghanistan's national budget within the next 2 years. Created in 2002, the multi-donor Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) was originally intended to serve as a short- term source of direct assistance to finance Afghanistan's non-security related operating budget. It is now expected to close in 2020 and is increasingly funding development projects. As of April 2011, 32 donors had contributed $4.29 billion to the ARTF; the United States has contributed almost $972 million. This report assesses the extent to which (1) the World Bank and the Afghan government have established and implemented mechanisms to independently monitor and account for donor contributions to ARTF, and (2) the Afghan government has developed the capacity to monitor and account for ARTF funds. SIGAR conducted this performance audit in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Washington, D.C., from November 2010 to July 2011, in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.