Report not sold on Afghan civilian surge - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Report not sold on Afghan civilian surge

WASHINGTON — The so-called “civilian surge” in Afghanistan is mired in bureaucracy and may not succeed in time to help the war effort, a State Department report found.

The report released Friday said U.S. diplomats spend too much time giving war zone tours to visiting officials. They have struggled to house, feed and transport an influx of new civilians. And they can’t get regular sleep because bosses at the National Security Council and others in Washington call for briefings from midnight to 4 a.m., apparently unworried about the different time zone.

The department’s inspector general said the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, and his team made impressive progress during their first six months in Kabul toward carrying out the “civilian surge” ordered by the Obama administration to accompany its military push.

The force of agriculturalists, lawyers, engineers and others — which nearly tripled from 320 people to about 900 early this year — is meant to encourage the Afghan people to like their own government more than they like the Taliban.

But Eikenberry’s team has been challenged by the unprecedented pace and scope of the civilian buildup, the report said.

“Even with the able leadership of senior officers, the best of intentions and the most dedicated efforts, Embassy Kabul faces serious challenges in meeting the administration’s deadline for ‘success’ in Afghanistan,” the 146-page report said.

The report said about 100 groups including more than 700 people had visited by October and that a dozen more congressional delegations were expected by the end of 2009.

“Some describe the incredible volume of visitors from all branches of the federal and even state governments as ‘war tourism,’ ” the report said.

“Although congressional and other VIP travel builds crucial support for U.S. efforts in Afghanistan, it also taxes the same military and civilian assets that would otherwise be deployed in the vital counterinsurgency and reconstruction efforts that the visitors seek to evaluate,” the report said.

Because the majority of assignments to Kabul are for one year with multiple rest and recreation breaks, most U.S. staff spend approximately two months of their tour on leave. The report said that hinders their ability to develop expertise, hurts continuity, requires more people on the ground, and results in what one former ambassador called “an institutional lobotomy.’ ”

The report makes more than 100 recommendations on a wide range of issues, from managing resources to morale and quality of life.