Training of Afghan security forces: close but no SIGAR

FT story by way of Our Man in Kabul.

Key findings to be released at the end of June:

A US government audit to be released at the end of this month will cast doubt on the $25bn effort to build Afghan military and police forces, a blow to the cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s exit strategy.   

According to the audit, the standards used to appraise the Afghan forces since 2005 were woefully inadequate, inflating their abilities.

The Nato-led coalition’s rating system measured forces based on such factors as training and equipment, rather than a metric that would more accurately assess their fighting abilities, the report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction concludes.

Military officials acknowledge the rating system’s inadequacies . . .   

For nearly five years, the Capability Milestone measure was used to advertise the growing number of competent Afghan soldiers . . . 

“The system deliberately exaggerated the combat capacity of Afghan troops, and it disguised the true level of attrition and desertion,” said Anthony Cordesman, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. 

A new system measures troops in terms of operational effectiveness. It relies on field assessments by Nato commanders.  But auditors say the changes made are inadequate. Others say there is too much room for personal bias.

As Afghan forces have expanded, General Stanley McChrystal, commander of the coalition, has pushed for a revised barometer of the forces’ abilities, settling on a new rating system in April . . . 

Afghan forces will play a critical role in the months leading up to July 2011, when American troops will begin to withdraw from Afghanistan, according the strategy Mr Obama outlined last year. 

To be sure, there's a lot of political pressure applied regarding a hoped-for declaration of progress by July 2011.

As usual, the military's best defense regarding such SysAdmin ops is a strong inspector general.