Afghanistan Accountability Act of 2016

Afghanistan Accountability Act of 2016

This bill expresses the sense of Congress with respect to U.S. assistance and accountability in Afghanistanment.

The bill states that it is U.S. policy:

• to conduct assistance programs that result in effective development outcomes for the people of Afghanistan while maintaining accountability for U.S. taxpayers;
• that all U.S. government agencies and entities working in Afghanistan coordinate plans to develop U.S. policy and assistance programming;
• to support the development of effective government of Afghanistan oversight institutions;
• to abide by resource commitments made as part of the Tokyo Mutual Accountability Framework;
• to provide incentivized assistance to Afghanistan's governing institutions based upon development outcomes and on-budget assistance based upon demonstrated capacity improvements;
• to support the development of democratic governing institutions in Afghanistan, promote the development of a growing private sector, and strengthen civil society;
• to support the Afghan efforts to build strong regional economic connectivity with the country's neighbors;
• to support programs that promote private sector job creation in Afghanistan; and
• that assistance programs in support of Afghan women and girls remain a U.S. priority.

The Department of State shall develop an interagency strategy for U.S. assistance that is sustainable and is not counter-productive to combating corruption in Afghanistan. Such strategy should include:

• multi-year goals for targeted activities to strengthen selected Afghan official institutions and nongovernmental organizations to prevent and prosecute corruption,
• an operational plan incorporating all U.S. programming to implement anti-corruption goals,
• a summary of U.S. efforts to coordinate anti-corruption efforts with international donors,
• a focus on the development of governmental and nongovernmental Afghan capacity to ensure accountability and combat corruption, and
• an evaluation of Afghan civil society anti-corruption capacities.

The President is authorized to provide technical and financial assistance to government of Afghanistan anti-corruption and audit institutions and Afghan civil society watchdog groups in support of anti-corruption priorities identified by the United States and Afghanistan.

The State Department is authorized to provide support for efforts of the government of Afghanistan to improve oversight and accountability of the Afghan National Security Forces, including the Afghan national and local police, and strengthen Afghan civil society and investigative journalists to provide oversight of these institutions.

The State Department shall, annually through 2024, submit a report listing each individual who the President determines:

• is a government of Afghanistan official, a senior associate, or close relative of such an official who is responsible for or complicit in ordering or directing acts of significant corruption, including the expropriation of private or public assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, bribery, or the facilitation or transfer of the proceeds of corruption to foreign jurisdictions; or
• has materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services in support of such an activity.

The Government Accountability Office shall submit a report on civilian-military assistance efforts that:

• describes lessons learned from development programming in Afghanistan to include recommendations to improve coordination between U.S. development agencies and the Armed Forces;
• assesses the U.S. Agency for International Development's ability to advance development goals within Afghanistan operating alongside providers of U.S. military assistance; and
• assesses whether funding under the Commander's Emergency Response Program achieved the program's counterinsurgency goals and whether this program had any long term development impact, including any negative unintended consequences.