SIGAR

SECURITY
SECURITY
KEY ISSUES AND EVENTS
SIGAR’s analysis of the most recent data provided by U.S. Forces in
Afghanistan (USFOR-A) suggests that the security situation in Afghanistan
has not improved this quarter. The numbers of the Afghan security forces
are decreasing, while both casualties and the number of districts under
insurgent control or influence are increasing. 98
During his nomination hearing before the Senate Armed Services
Committee in January 2016, then-Lieutenant General John W. Nicholson Jr.,
commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, said Afghanistan had an
air-power shortfall. 99 General Nicholson, in a press conference on December 2,
provided details of Department of Defense (DOD) plans to replace
Afghanistan’s aging Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter fleet with U.S.-made UH-60
“Black Hawk” helicopters. 100 DOD reported that the current Mi-17 fleet in
Afghanistan is in a state of steady decline due to higher-than-anticipated utilization
rates and accelerating attrition that need to be addressed in the coming
years. 101 General Nicholson also stated that Afghan requests for Russian technical
assistance for the Mi-17s had not been fruitful. 102
In November 2016, DOD requested $814.5 million from Congress as
part of an amendment to the fiscal year (FY) 2017 Oversees Contingency
Operation Budget to purchase and upgrade obsolete U.S. Army UH-60A
Black Hawk helicopters for Afghanistan. The budget request, still awaiting
congressional approval, would also fund additional A-29 Super Tucano light
attack aircraft, MD-530 helicopters, and an armed variant of the single-turboprop
C-208 utility aircraft. 103
On December 23, 2016, President Obama signed the Fiscal Year
(FY) 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, authorizing up to $4.26 billion
for the Afghanistan Security Forces Fund (ASFF). The ASFF is the
United States’ principal fund to build, train, equip, and sustain the Afghan
National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF). President Obama pledged
to recommend to his successor that the United States continue to seek
funding for the ANDSF at or near current levels through 2020. For its part,
the international community pledged at the October 2016 NATO summit in
Warsaw to provide more than $800 million annually for the ANDSF from
General John Nicholson briefs reporters on
the security situation in Afghanistan at the
Pentagon in Washington, DC, in December
2016. (DOD photo by U.S. Air Force SSG
Jette Carr)
REPORT TO THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS I JANUARY 30, 2017
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