There are many issues related to growing corruption in Afghanistan and unfortunately these seem to be getting out of control. It has proved to be a quagmire, getting out of which seems very difficult for the country.
Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah also showed his concerns regarding corruption on Saturday, April 11 2015. In a meeting with John F. Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), he mentioned that the government was striving to devise a strategy to address corruption related issues. He said, “The unity government is committed to fight corruption and ensure transparency in the government. We want SIGAR to cooperate in our fight against corruption.”
SIGAR is US government’s leading authority on Afghanistan regarding reconstruction. It was created by Congress to provide independent and objective oversight of the funds related to Afghanistan Reconstruction. SIGAR, basically conducts audits, investigations and inspections in order to promote effectiveness of reconstruction programs and detect and prevent waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars.
US Public Law 110-181 requires SIGAR to submit a quarterly report to US Congress. This report contains SIGAR’s audits and investigative activities. The report also includes an overview of reconstruction activities in Afghanistan and a detailed statement of all obligations, expenditures and revenues associated with reconstruction. SIGAR’s last quarterly report was published on January 30, 2015. Sopko presented the report to CEO and briefed him about SIGAR recent activities in Afghanistan. He promised to work closely with Afghan officials for eradication of corruption and ensure better governance in the country. He sought the Afghan government view point on SIGAR report and it was ready to extend support for elimination of existing corruption in police and judicial departments.
It should be noted that billions of Dollars poured in the country for both military support and development projects. But if we analyze the socio-political and socio-economic scenario in the country the development does not seem as great as it should have been. Most of these aids were devoured by corruption instead of being spent for the intended purposes. Either the money that was to be spent through government or the NGO sector, both the ways corruption had the largest share.
In fact, corruption makes systems and institutions suffer and even collapse. Therefore, corruption should be handled appropriately if a society intends to develop and strengthen the foundations of a just system. Unfortunately our country Afghanistan has been a victim of this nuisance for a long period of time. And it is because of the same reason that Afghanistan has been limping while striving to stand on its feet regarding political and economic development. It is also unfortunate to note that the justice system that could have played a major role in nipping this evil in the bud did not offer as much as necessary and the situation has now gotten out of control.
Another characteristic of corruption is that it makes an institution or individual incapable. Depending much on corruption, the institution or the individual gives up the hard work and realizes the easy ways of achieving the objectives.
Today, corruption has penetrated deep into our social behavior. It is now a part of routine life to be corrupt. From a very minor to the most major matter, we find corruption ruling the roost.
One of the major problems in tackling with corruption in our country is that the controlling mechanism itself is involved in it. The government that should be on the forefront to curb this menace, itself has been a major contributor in this regard. There have been many major occasions of corruption when current administration has been blamed for being directly involved in the matter. From the issue of election to the Kabul Bank episode, the government has not been able to extract itself out clean. On most of the occasions the government has blamed the Western supporters to be generating corruption in the country.
Western allies, on the other hand, have kept on insisting that Afghan authorities must carry out serious measures to curb the overgrowing corruption; however, the outcome is yet to be produced in this regard. The Western allies have spent billions of dollars in supporting the Afghan government; they have every right to make sure that the money which is intended to support the Afghan people must be used through a transparent manner. However, they have not been very much careful in this regard. And already much of the money has been misused by corruption.
Nevertheless, in the process, the supporters of Afghanistan have lost their trust from the Afghan authorities and are mostly disappointed from what has been achieved after more than a decade of expenditure and hard work. One of the reasons that there is reluctance on the part of the international community to pursue the war in Afghanistan is, no doubt, corruption.
Corruption in Afghanistan is now a complex phenomenon that requires extensive efforts from both national and international authorities to be comprehended and resolved. Definitely, the anti-corruption institutions, equipped with authority and facilities can be major contributors in curbing it and Afghan government needs to establish them and nourish them appropriately. However, it is also important to note that the honest efforts on individual level can be helpful to eradicate corruption to a great extent. The realization, on individual level, that a person commits the biggest injustice and violates the right of fellow-being while being involved in corruption is the crying need of time.