KABUL – A report by the US Special Inspector General for AfghanistanReconstruction says a program by the Defense Department of the UnitedStates has spent $675 million USD to revive the Afghan economy, but itcould not provide reliable data on where the money went, TOLO News hasreported.
“DOD was unable to provide reliable data showing the extent to which TFBSOprojects created jobs, facilitated foreign direct investments, increasedexports, or increased Afghan government revenues,” the Special InspectorGeneral for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said in the reportlink>titled DOD Task Forcefor Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO).
TFBSO’s purpose was to fund business-related projects to reduce violence byencouraging Afghans to focus on economic activity rather that fighting.However, the SIGAR report, showed the program to be inept and beyond theDefense Department’s capabilities.
“Because important documents and data were not consistently collected orretained, we could not fully assess the extent to which the $675 millionobligated by TFBSO was spent effectively,” the report said.
TFBSO often had unrealistic expectations in project execution and it failedto account for local factors including politics, culture, weather, andsecurity, SIGAR said.
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The report says that TFBSO did not clearly articulate its intended mission,objectives, and strategy until more than 2.5 years after it enteredAfghanistan.
TFBSO’s lack of a strategy, coupled with the confrontational style ofTFBSO’s early leadership and a lack of policy direction from State and U.S.Forces-Afghanistan (USFORA), brought it into almost immediate conflict withUSAID and State, and also strained TFBSO’s early relationship with theCommander of USFOR-A.
Furthermore, TFBSO did not consistently coordinate its activities withother US government stakeholders in Afghanistan—namely State, USAID, andUSFOR-A—leading to conflicting projects and wasted money.
TFBSO’s poor coordination with other agencies diminished its ability toalign its activities with the priorities of the USFOR-A Commander and theUS Ambassador to Afghanistan.
SIGAR says that it has reviewed the following specifications in the report.
The Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO) was atemporary organization created by the Department of Defense (DOD) tosupport operations in Iraq.
However, in 2009, DOD redirected TFBSO to carry out economic developmentprojects in Afghanistan. TFBSO operated in Afghanistan from 2010 through2014. Congress appropriated approximately $823 million for TFBSO operationsin Afghanistan, and according to contracts we were able to review, TFBSOobligated more than $675 million in contracts.
Of that amount, $316.3 million was obligated in direct support of projectsrelated to agriculture, banking, oil and gas, indigenous industries, andmining. Of the remaining $359.5 million, approximately $299.8 million wasobligated on indirect costs in support of TFBSO’s projects and $59.7million on general and administrative costs.
SIGAR conducted this audit at the request of Senator Charles E. Grassleyand then-Senator Kelly A. Ayotte. They sent separate letters in January2016 requesting that SIGAR conduct a comprehensive performance audit of allTFBSO programs and activities in Afghanistan.