it's my distinct pleasure today to be joined by my friend john sopko, special inspector general for afghanistan reconstruction, or segar as with shortened it to save time. john joins us as part of our event today entitled afghanistan, lessons from the u.s. experience, stabilization, lessons from the u.s. experience in afghanistan. this event happens to share the same title with the report just issued by sigar which will be rolled out today and you'll be hearing from john shortly on the reports contents, the findings and the recommendations. i fed honor of knowing this gentleman, john sopko, for many years and he was a vital partner to me in my previous role leading u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan. it's been a trusted advisor to many u.s. policymakers and leaders throughout the years. he and his team have maintained close and tireless oversight over our mission in afghanistan and a been a critical part of ensuring we remain accountable for her efforts and equally as important in making sure we learn from our successes as well as our mistakes and, frankly, over the last nearly 17 years of thi

it's my distinct pleasure today to be joined by my friend john sopko, special

with that, let me welcome john sopko, special inspector general for afghanistan to the stage for his keynote remarks. john. >> good morning. general comment thank you for those very kind remarks in that introduction. more importantly, for hosting today's event and the relief of our fourth lessons learned report, which is entitled to stabilization, lessons from the u.s. experience in afghanistan. this report is the culmination of two years of work by our office and examines the u.s. stabilization efforts in afghanistan committee detailing how usaid, state department and defense department tried to support and legitimize the afghan government in contested districts in afghanistan from 2002 until 2017. today's report is also available in any directive format. like all of our products, and may be downloaded from our website at www..sigar .mil. i think we are the only inspector general's office to release his records in such a format. sigar will be releasing its fifth lessons learned report on june 14th, focusing on our counternarcotics effort in afghanistan for those who are interested. w

with that, let me welcome john sopko, special inspector general of afghanistan to the stage for his keynote remarks. john. detailing how the state department and defense department tried to support and legitimize the afghan government in contested districts in afghanistan from 2002 to 2017. today's report is also available in an interactive format and, like all of our products, may be downloaded from our website at www.sigar.mil. on the interactive format, i think we are the only inspector general's office that releases reports in such a format. fifthwill release its lessons learned report, focusing on narcotics efforts in afghanistan. we began our lessons learned program in late 2000 14 at a suggestion by you, general alan, andalso brian crocker others. my staff told me i have credited about our times lessons learned program that we should probably start writing you some royalty checks. [laughter] that would be wrong. seriousness, you made an observation that resonated with me during one of my first trips to afghanistan while you were the commanding general of isif. we later followed up wh

with that, let me welcome john sopko, a special inspector general for afghanistan to the stage where his keynote remarks. -- for his keynote remarks. john? mr. sun: good -- mr. sopko:. that was very kind remarks in that introduction. more importantly for hosting today's event. the release of our fourth lessons learned report which is entitled "stabilization, lessons from the u.s. experience in afghanistan." this report is become culmination of two years of work by our office in examines -- and examines the u.s. stabilization efforts in afghanistan. , the stateow usaid department and the defense department tried to support and legitimize the afghan government and contested districts in afghanistan from 2002 to 2017. today's report is also available in an interactive format, and like all of our products may be downloaded from our website. on the interactive format i think we're the only sector general's office that releases reports in such a format. we will be releasing its fifth lessons learned report on june 14 focusing on our counter narcotics efforts in afghanistan. we began our les

i have to ask you, as well, vanda, and we heard john allen and ig sopko talking about this earlier. how much of a problem here is the afghan government? >> actually, there is just a fundamental part of the problem. and this goes back to the relationship between pakistan and afghanistan. afghan people will often tell you that if only pakistan were not the problem, there would not be problems in afghanistan. indeed, pakistan has been a tremendous destabilizing, complex, complicated actor. no doubt about it. however, if never good in afghanistan, then stabilizing effects of pakistan would be far more limited affects than they have been. clearly, it's a new government. not so new now. it's for use into the government, but it's the government that people had very high expectations, how much the government would deliver on cleaning up corruption and b better more predictable governance and it's a tremendous struggle for the unity government. a lot of disappointment, again, very high amount of expectations and because of the troops, continual reliance on highly problematic warlords, proble