Washington, D.C. – Today, Rep. John F. Tierney (D-Mass.), Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, issued the following statement about a newly-released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report as part of his sustained oversight of U.S. efforts in Pakistan and Afghanistan:

“Training the Afghan police so they can help maintain security and establish the rule of law is critical to any U.S. exit strategy. Last summer, we held a hearing noting severe shortages of U.S. military mentors for both the Afghan army and police. While there is some improvement, GAO notes that the Defense Department is still short 1,500 military personnel needed to train the Afghan police force. Training Afghan security is integral to that country’s self-sustainment. The sooner we get the Afghans trained, the sooner our troops can come home. We will be watching to make sure that any strategic plan for Afghanistan adequately addresses these training shortfalls. The problem has been identified for some time. Let’s fix it.”

During the past two years, Chairman Tierney has led three Congressional delegations to Pakistan and Afghanistan and held nine related oversight hearings. Earlier this year, he held a hearing to investigate the failure of the Defense Department to properly account for hundreds of thousands of weapons and other sensitive equipment obtained for the Afghan army and police.