WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s revamped Afghanistan strategy hasmade little progress against the Taliban insurgency, leaving the country a“dangerous and volatile” place nearly 17 years after the U.S. invaded, agovernment watchdog report said Monday.

The conclusion contrasts with assertions last fall by the American militarythat the Afghans, with U.S. support, had “turned the corner” and capturedmomentum against the Taliban, which it called fractured and desperate.

The report to Congress by inspectors general of the Pentagon, the StateDepartment and the U.S. Agency for International Development also castdoubt on the administration’s decision to send a new set of militaryadvisers this year to work with Afghan forces closer to the front lines. Itsaid this, combined with stepped-up Afghan offensives, “further raises therisk of civilian casualties, insider attacks, U.S. casualties, and otherconflict-related violence.”

The U.S. has about 15,000 support troops in Afghanistan providing militaryassistance but not in direct combat roles.

Citing a series of deadly Taliban attacks, including last week in thewestern province of Farah, bordering Iran, the inspector general reportreleased by the Pentagon said there are few signs of significant progressby Afghan forces.

“The Taliban continued to hold territory and launched devastating terroristattacks in Kabul and across the country,” said Glenn Fine, the deputyPentagon inspector general wrote in an introductory note to the report,which covered the three months ended March 31.

Asked about the report’s grim assessment, a Pentagon spokesman, Army Col.Rob Manning, said officials believe “chaos and progress can coexist” inAfghanistan. “That’s exactly what we feel is happening in Afghanistan,” hesaid.

Manning said the Afghan armed forces are making important strides. He citedas an example the support that the Afghan air force provided in anoffensive undertaken in Farah province in recent days to defeat Talibanforces that had attacked the provincial capital and overrun severalsecurity checkpoints. Manning also said additional U.S. military advisoryunits had arrived in Farah to advise Afghan forces. He said the Afghangovernment is now in full control of Farah.

The inspector generals’ report agreed that Afghan security forces areimproving but found they have made minimal progress toward securing thepopulation. It also said the number of Afghan fighting forces has continuedto decline, raising concerns about their effectiveness. The number ofactive-duty Afghan troops stood at 313,728 at the end of January, it said,down from 331,708 a year earlier. The estimated actual number of troops is11 percent below the target level of 352,000, a gap that reflectsdifficulties in keeping Afghan soldiers in uniform. The report said it alsomay reflect high Afghan casualty rates.

The Trump administration, in launching a new war strategy last August, saidit was taking a regional approach to include Pakistan and making a biggerpush to compel the Taliban to join peace talks. But Monday’s report saidthere was little publicly available evidence that the actions to increasepressure on the Taliban were having a significant impact.

“Militarily, the (Afghan security forces) and U.S. forces continued airstrikes and ground operations, but did not gain a significant amount ofterritory,” the report said. “On the diplomatic front, despite suspendingbetween $1.5 billion and $2 billion in planned security aid to Pakistan,that country did not take any significant action to eliminate terroristsafe havens.”

Further complicating the outlook, the U.S. has accused Iran and Russia ofinterfering in Afghanistan.

As further evidence of the volatile situation, the report noted thatparliamentary elections scheduled for July have been postponed untilOctober. It said this could make it difficult to hold the presidentialelection planned for 2019, and it questioned the extent to which ballotingamid Taliban resistance will promote peace.

“Given that the Taliban views the Afghan government as a U.S. puppet, it isunclear how U.S.-supported elections would increase the legitimacy of theAfghan government in the eyes of the Taliban and would pressure themilitants to reconcile,” the report said.