DOD corrects Afghan end-strength figures reported to SIGAR

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction continues to have issues with data reported by U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, as end-strength figures for the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces provided for SIGAR's latest quarterly report were inaccurate.

In an addendum to the April quarterly report published today, SIGAR John Sopko reports that his organization received a letter May 10 from USFOR-A informing the inspector general that the reported end-strength figure for the Afghan forces of 296,409 personnel was incorrect.

The actual end strength for the ANDSF was 313,728 personnel as of Jan. 31, 2018, according to the addendum. U.S. Forces told SIGAR the error was due to their failure to account for the transfer of most of the Afghan Border Force element from the Afghan National Police to the Afghan National Army, the document states.

While the corrected figures show ANDSF end strength has declined by 17,980 personnel between January 2017 and January 2018, the erroneous figures included in the April quarterly report inaccurately presented a more drastic decline.

"This is the latest in a series of problems SIGAR has faced over the last three quarters with DOD's responses to our requests for ANDSF information," Sopko writes in the addendum.

Since it was established in 2008, SIGAR has usually received timely and accurate information from the Defense Department, according to Sopko. But over the past three quarters, NATO's Resolute Support mission and USFOR-A have classified and restricted information from public reporting "in a seemingly haphazard fashion," Sopko writes.

For instance, SIGAR stated in its January quarterly report that the Resolute Support campaign restricted the watchdog from reporting land, population and district control data in Afghanistan for the first time. Resolute Support later said the restriction was a "human error," and allowed SIGAR to publicly report the data, which showed record gains by the Taliban.

In the most recent addendum, Sopko states a SIGAR team recently met with Resolute Support and USFOR-A Commander Gen. John Nicholson to share concerns about the data-call process. Nicholson's staff shared a letter with SIGAR showing the four-star had recently requested the ANDSF classify less of its data, and in the April quarterly report, less data was classified than had been done for the previous two quarters, according to Sopko.

Additionally, Sopko states SIGAR has told USFOR-A that it will be the principal point of contact for what data DOD wants to restrict in the future.

"Nevertheless, in light of the problems described above, SIGAR respectfully requests the appropriate congressional committees and the secretary of defense to remind all DOD components of their statutory duty to provide accurate and timely data concerning the ANDSF for SIGAR’s quarterly reports," Sopko concludes.