Afghanistan Security: U.S. Efforts to Develop Capable Afghan Police Forces Face Challenges and Need a Coordinated, Detailed Plan to Help Ensure Accountability; Congressional testimony

摘要

Since 2005, the Department of Defense (Defense), with support from the Department of State (State), has directed U.S. efforts to develop the Afghan National Police (ANP) into a force capable of enforcing the rule of law and supporting actions to defeat insurgency, among other activities. This testimony discusses the following: (1) U.S. efforts to develop a capable ANP; (2) challenges that affect the development of a capable ANP; and (3) GAO analysis of U.S. efforts to develop a coordinated, detailed plan for completing and sustaining the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), which comprise the ANP and the Afghan National Army (ANA). This statement is based on a concurrently issued GAO report titled 'Afghanistan Security: Further Congressional Action May Be Needed to Ensure Completion of a Detailed Plan to Develop and Sustain Capable Afghan National Security Forces,' GAO-08-661 (Washington, D.C.: June 18, 2008). To help ensure coordination and accountability of U.S. efforts to build a capable ANSF and facilitate assessment of progress, GAO has encouraged Congress to consider conditioning a portion of future appropriations on completion of a coordinated, detailed plan. Defense disagreed with conditioning future funding and State expressed similar concerns. GAO maintains that further action is needed to ensure completion of a coordinated, detailed plan.