Little oversight of US aid after troop withdrawal

US officials will not be able to visit or inspect major reconstruction projects in Afghanistan after most American troops withdraw in about a year, John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, said on Monday.

The planned departure of the bulk of the US-led force by the end of 2014 will deprive US civilian officials of security needed to travel to project sites across the country, undercutting efforts to keep tabs on multi-billion dollar aid programs, officials said.

"Although it is difficult to predict the future of the US presence in Afghanistan, it is likely that no more than 21 percent of Afghanistan will be accessible to US civilian oversight personnel by the end of the transition, a 47 percent decrease since 2009," said Sopko.

"We have also been told by State Department officials that this projection may be optimistic, especially if the security situation does not improve," Sopko wrote in a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and the head of the Agency for International Development, Rajiv Shah.

Previous audits have found major waste and mismanagement in the US reconstruction effort in Afghanistan, the most expensive aid mission in US history.

Western aid to Afghanistan is considered crucial to ensuring stability in the country once the NATO-led force departs, officials and analysts say.

Afghan soldiers jog during training in Kabul on Oct 23. Rahmat Gul / Associated Press

(China Daily 10/30/2013 page12)