A US government watchdog has offered a worrying assessment of security progress in Afghanistan. Security forces are struggling against insurgency and the government is losing control over more territory.
Image: Reuters/O. Sobhani
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The Afghan government has lost territory to Taliban insurgents and security forces have suffered from rising casualties and attrition, while widespread corruption continues to undermine reconstruction, a US government watchdog said on Wednesday.
The 269-page quarterly report released by the US Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction's (SIGAR) noted the $117 billion (108 billion euros) Washington has invested in reconstruction in Afghanistan since 2002 has led to "tenuous and incomplete" gains that risk failing if security and corruption are not addressed.
Nearly half of US reconstruction funds have gone to the Afghan army and police, which - since taking over security from international forces in 2015 - have steadily lost territory to Taliban insurgents.
The government controlled or influenced only 57.2 percent of Afghanistan's 407 districts as of mid-November, a 6.2-percent decrease from August and a 15-point decrease since November 2015, according to the report. As a result, some 9 million people, or about one-third of the population, "live in areas that are contested." About 2.5 million people live in areas controlled by the Taliban.
The Afghan police and army took over providing security from NATO in 2015, but US-led international forces still provide training, counterterrorism support and air power.
"The Afghan security forces need continued donor support, plus mentoring and limited tactical support from the U.S. military, to block insurgent advances," SIGAR inspector general John Sopko said. "Likewise, the Afghan government cannot survive without continued donor financial assistance."
Deported to Afghanistan
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Afghan security forces have struggled to maintain control since taking over security, highlighted by the Taliban briefly taking the northern city of Kunduz last year.
Between January 1 and November 12, 6,785 Afghan soldiers and police officers were killed and another 11,777 wounded, the report said. The death toll represents a 35-percent increase compared to all of 2015.
Opium production has meanwhile jump by 43 percent in 2016 over 2015, providing money to the Taliban insurgency through taxation and transit fees.
According to the UN, the number of newly internally displaced people (IDPs) in Afghanistan jumped in 2016 to 623,000, with more than half of them children. There were also roughly 8,400 conflict-related civilian casualties between January 1 and September 30, according to the UN.
The SIGAR report casts further doubt on the German government position that parts of Afghanistan are "safe," paving the way for rejecting asylum applications and deporting some Afghans back to the war-torn and impoverished country. The deportations are part of a deal reached between Germany and Afghanistan in October.
SIGAR was established in 2008 to monitor waste, corruption and mismanagement by Afghan and US contractors.
Afghan 'Banksy' takes Kabul
A group of Afghan artists has painted graffiti on the walls of government buildings, businesses, and embassies in Kabul. They call themselves the Afghan "Banksy." Monica Bernabé shows us some of their work.
Image: DW/M. Bernabe
Street art in the Afghan capital
A group of Afghan activists and artists has painted graffiti on concrete blast walls that protect government buildings, businesses, embassies and homes of powerful people in Kabul. They're known as the Afghan "Banksy" after the famous graffiti artist from Bristol. Their street art highlights social problems in Afghanistan after almost four decades of war.
Image: DW/M. Bernabe
Paintbrushes as weapons
The real name of the so-called Afghan Banksy is ArtLords, a play on words referring to the myriad of warlords who still play a major role in Afghan society. Graffiti is very rare in Kabul. "When we explained to people what we were doing, they were ecstatic. We handed them paintbrushes and asked them to help us fill in the mural," Omaid Sharifi, one of the project's founders, told DW.
Image: DW/M. Bernabe
Power, corruption and lies
Much of ArtLords' work shows huge painted eyes that look down from the walls onto the passing traffic and pedestrians. Some also carry a legend reading: "Corruption is not hidden from God and the people's gaze." The artists chose corruption as their first theme to highlight the enormity of the problem. Transparency International ranks Afghanistan as one of the world's most corrupt countries.
Image: DW/M. Bernabe
Direct messages
"Father, where did you find money for this new car?" asks the boy in the graffiti. "My aim is to plant seeds of doubt, encouraging Afghans to analyze everything," ArtLords' founder Omaid Sharifi told DW. The first mural was painted on the Education Ministry's blast wall to send a direct message. International funding is allocated to fake schools, while the money ends up in officials' pockets
Image: DW/M. Bernabe
Fleeing Afghanistan
Afghans made up around 20 percent of the more than 1 million refugees who reached Europe's shores in 2015. After the withdrawal of international forces at the end of 2014, insecurity increased and the Taliban have once again retaken control of areas vacated by allied forces.
Image: DW/M. Bernabe
On the receiving end
The EU signed an agreement with the Afghan government in October to deport an unlimited number of asylum seekers from several member states as well as obliging the Afghan government to receive them. The repatriation deal was announced at an international conference in which Western governments pledged more than 4 billion euros in annual development aid to Afghanistan over the next four years.
Image: DW/M. Bernabe
No love lost
Afghanistan's economy was built around the war - as a result a lot of jobs disappeared after the foreign troops left. Afghanistan's economy showed minimal growth in 2015, about 1.5 percent according to the World Bank and although domestic revenue reached an impressive 10.4 percent of GDP, Afghanistan is still hugely dependent on foreign aid.
Image: DW/M. Bernabe
A big burden
Afghanistan has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world, currently estimated at about 31 percent of the adult population, according to UNESCO. While there has been a rapid growth in the public school system, there have also been daunting challenges such as a lack of capacity to find or train qualified teachers, printing enough textbooks or building enough safe schools.
