US-based DynCorps International failed to provide nearly 60 percent of the instructors needed to train Afghan police under a contract with the US government, according to an audit issued Monday.
The Defense Department and DynCorps signed a two-year contract in December 2010 worth more than $1 billion to train police forces in Afghanistan, requiring the firm to have instructors in place within a 120-day deadline.
Defense officials “reported that the incoming contractor did not have 428 of the 728 required personnel in place within the 120-day transition period,” said the audit by inspectors general from the Defense and State departments.
The shortage “placed the overall mission at risk by not providing the mentoring essential for developing the Afghan Government and Police Force,” it said.
The audit, which focused on the transfer of the Afghan police training program from the State Department to the Pentagon, criticized both for failing to create a clear plan to oversee and monitor the transition.
State and Defense “officials relied on independently developed contractor plans, some of which were not feasible and did not address inherently governmental tasks,” it said.
The audit comes amid a major push to train and expand Afghan security forces to pave the way for the eventual exit of NATO-led troops after nearly ten years of war.
The effort has faced persistent shortages of foreign trainers, with US officials complaining that some NATO members have failed to contribute enough instructors to the project.
The NATO-led mission in Afghanistan aims to train a 134,000-strong police force by October as part of a build-up of Afghan security forces, which are due to take over security responsibility by the end of 2014.
A Pentagon report to Congress earlier this year found that none of the 203 Afghan police units were considered capable of operating without assistance from foreign forces.
