WASHINGTON — The new NATO mission in Afghanistan has classified its assessments of how more than $60 billion in U.S. aid is being used to bolster the Afghan army, leaving hidden one of the best assessments of U.S. taxpayer-funded investment in Kabul.
The previous NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, which ended in December, had for the last six years released figures and assessments of Afghan troops’ capacity to the U.S. Special Inspector for Afghanistan Reconstruction, Washington’s independent watchdog over U.S. investment in that country. The Special Inspector, which releases quarterly reports, highlighted the new classification issue in a review released Tuesday.
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President Barack Obama has committed to a complete troop withdrawal by 2016.
Akbar Shahid Ahmed contributed reporting to this story.
