John Sopko, head of oversight for U.S. work in Afghanistan, says major challenges remain --- John F. Sopko became the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction in 2012, after more than 37 years of accountability work with government and the private sector. He inherited a dispirited agency that was struggling with retention and had a reputation for ineffectiveness. -- SIGAR oversees the development work of U.S. agencies in Afghanistan, including the Army Corps of Engineers, the Defense Department, the State Department and the Agency for International Development. -- We talked with Sopko about a range of issues, including his attempts to turn around SIGAR, the security problems associated with dwindling troop numbers and the move toward “direct assistance,” which allows the Afghan government to distribute U.S. money on its own. -- Below is an edited transcript of the interview: - More, Josh Hicks, Washingtonpost, at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal_government/john-sopko-head-of-oversight-for-us-work-in-afghanistan-says-major-challenges-remain/2014/03/30/1c96b71c-b83b-11e3-96ae-f2c36d2b1245_story.html