
From the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR):
Today, SIGAR released an audit of U.S.-funded salary payments for the Afghan National Police (ANP), which total $1.3 billion.
The audit found:
--The U.S. is spending over $300 million annually for ANP salaries with little assurance that these funds are going to active police personnel or that the amounts paid are correct.
--There are almost twice as many ANP identification cards in circulation as there are active police personnel.
--After 9 years of effort, an electronic human resources system has still not been successfully implemented.
--Reports have disclosed inflated police rosters, payments being made to more police personnel than are authorized in particular locations, and police personnel receiving inflated salaries.
--20% of ANP personnel are at risk of not receiving their full salaries because they are paid in cash by an MOI-appointed trusted agent, where as much as half of these payments are possibly diverted.
--U.S. officials confirmed that over the past year they accepted, without question, all personnel totals provided by the Afghan Ministry of Interior (MOI).
--UNDP's independent monitoring agent may have artificially inflated the percentage of successfully verified ANP personnel from 59% to as much as 84%.
--As U.S. forces draw down, the U.S. government will have increasingly limited visibility over ANP data collection processes.
--Unless the MOI develops the capability to ensure and verify the accuracy of ANP personnel and payroll data, there is a significant risk that a large portion of the over $300 million in annual U.S. funding for ANP salaries will be wasted or abused.
--
I don't know about you, but I'm shocked, shocked.