WASHINGTON — A Pentagon report on Thursday harshly criticized a $174 million American drone program that was meant to give Afghan forces an advantage over the Taliban but has instead shown few gains. The report from the special inspector general for Afghan reconstruction cited delays and a lack of oversight or clear metrics for success for the program, known as ScanEagle. The report found several issues plaguing the program, including inadequate training for Afghan forces, who displayed an “inability to account for ScanEagle equipment” and failed to exploit the intelligence gathered by the drones for military missions. “As a result of these delays and challenges,” the Defense Department “lacks information necessary to track, understand and improve the return on its $174 million investment in the program, and is poorly positioned to transfer responsibilities” to the Afghan National Army, the report said. In written responses to the report, the American-led mission in Afghanistan defended the program, noting that the Afghan army now requires minimal assistance from military advisers, that it rigorously vets troops working on the drones and that the equipment is used daily for operations even though “it may not be to Western standards.”

Source: International New York Times July 17, 2020 03:56 UTC