Latest SIGAR Afghanistan Audit Results
On 22 July the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) published an audit of DOD, State and USAID's over $2.6 billion investment in Afghanistan's information and communications technology (ICT) sector.
The audit notes:
— According to U.S. and Afghan officials, the ICT sector is generally seen as a success. USAID reports that, among other things, the sector contributed $1.81 billion in revenues to the Afghan government in 2013, employs about 130,000 Afghans, and provides mobile phone services to roughly 90 percent of the population.
— According to DOD, the ICT sector is Afghanistan's greatest source of foreign direct investment, largest remitter of taxes to the government, and largest licit employer.
— U.S. agencies obligated over $2.6 billion to Afghanistan's ICT sector, but the full scope of U.S. efforts is unknown.
— Because the agencies were not required to track their ICT efforts in a centralized database, the information reported to SIGAR by DOD, State, and USAID may not be comprehensive or entirely reliable.
— Through our own review, SIGAR identified a $400 million, DOD-funded ICT contract that was not included in the data DOD reported to us.
— State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs reported that its Justice Sector Support Program, funded at approximately $205.5 million, included one ICT-related activity. Funding for the system cannot be disaggregated from the larger program.
— USAID officials also told us they were not able to provide information on some programs implemented before 2005. Completion of these efforts is past the agency's timetable for records retention.
— U.S. agencies took steps to coordinate their efforts between themselves and with other entities; however, this coordination varied in form between formal mechanisms, such as ISAF TAT and the Telecommunications Working Group, and more informal coordination with the ministries.
Read the audit here.
