Amid Soaring Corruption, NATO Rethinks Afghan Mission

Less Training, More Aid Oversight

Struggles coping with corruption in Afghanistan reconstruction contracts have been an issue from virtually the moment the NATO occupation began, but with a drawdown planned in 2015 and growing public opposition to the war, NATO members are rethinking their “enduring presence.”

Initially the plan was to focus the military presence in 2015 and beyond on trainers to keep building up the struggling Afghan military, which is facing double digit desertion rates and constantly replacing them with raw, poorly paid recruits.

Instead of wasting their time and money training Afghan troops who by-and-large are going to desert almost immediately thereafter anyhow, many nations see the real value in the occupation as keeping an eye on the billions of dollars in aid they intend to keep throwing into the black hole that is Afghan contractors.

The numbers for the nations are staying about the same, but with less and less trainers and more and more “managers” meant to oversee the aid dollars. Whether they will be any more effective at keeping track of the money than their predecessors remains to be seen.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.