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Report | May 20, 2016

Lead Inspector General for Operation Freedom’s Sentinel | Quarterly Report to the United States Congress | March 31, 2016

 This is the Lead Inspector General’s 4th Quarterly Report to the United States Congress on Operation Freedom’s Sentinel (OFS) detailing key events of the overseas contingency operation that occurred during the period January 1, 2016, to March 31, 2016. The report also features oversight work conducted by the Lead IG and partner oversight agencies from October 1, 2015, to March 31, 2016, and ongoing and future oversight work, as of March 31, 2016.  Going forward, the Lead IG report will provide oversight information every quarter instead of on a biannual basis.

Under OFS, U.S. forces are conducting two complementary missions in Afghanistan:  1) the counterterrorism mission against al Qaeda, its associates, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant-Khorasan (IS-K), which was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization on January 14, 2016; and 2) the train, advise, and assist mission in cooperation with NATO allies and partner nations to continue building the capabilities of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF).

As our report describes in more detail, the overall security situation in Afghanistan remained unsettled this quarter.  The NATO-led Resolute Support Mission reported progress in building the capacity of the ANDSF through its train, advise, and assist efforts, with much of the NATO-led effort focused on the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Interior, where Coalition advisors have long exerted significant effort to strengthen critical managerial functions.  In addition, a major focus of Resolute Support occurred in Helmand province, where the deployment of additional Coalition advisors guided re-equipping and re-training of several battalions of the Afghanistan National Army 215th Corps.

Section 8L of the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, provides a mandate for the three Lead IG agencies—the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (DoD OIG), Department of State Office of Inspector General (DoS OIG), and U.S. Agency for International Development Office of Inspector General (USAID OIG)—to work together to develop and carry out joint, comprehensive, and strategic oversight. Each IG retains statutory independence, but together they apply their extensive regional experience and in-depth institutional knowledge to conduct oversight of the OFS missions. 

During the period October 1, 2015, to March 31, 2016, the Lead IG agencies released 7 reports. There were also 24 ongoing oversight projects. In addition, the criminal investigative components of the DoD, DoS, and USAID OIGs had 15 ongoing investigations.