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

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.