Senior Democrats seek to reverse new policy that classifies Afghan military information

Two senior Democrats want U.S. forces in Afghanistan to reverse a new policy that classifies information about the Afghan military that was previously unclassified, according to a letter they sent to President Trump.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA), who is the ranking member on the panel's National Security subcommittee, write in their Nov. 17 letter that the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction voiced similar concerns about the classification of Afghan military information in a recent report.

"This information relates to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF), has been unclassified for years, and was previously published publicly in quarterly reports by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR)," the lawmakers write.

The SIGAR report, they note, also states that classifying the previously available Afghan military information, which includes data on casualties, personnel strength, attrition, capability assessments and equipment readiness, will "hinder" the office's ability to report progress in Afghanistan.

The U.S. military also sought to classify information about the Afghan military in 2015, but reversed course after opposition from SIGAR.

This time, U.S. forces in Afghanistan say much of the information is being classified at the request of the Afghan government, according SIGAR.

Still, more than 60 percent of the approximately $121 billion in U.S. funding for reconstruction in Afghanistan since 2002 has gone to build up the capabilities of Afghan security forces, according to SIGAR, which argues further transparency is required to guard against fraud, waste and abuse.

"The safety and security of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan is of the highest importance," Cummings and Lynch write. "However, inappropriately classifying information undermines the ability of Congress to conduct meaningful oversight and restricts the ability of the American people to know how the U.S. government is spending billions of their tax dollars."