Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

Afghanistan’s Dysfunctional System Highly Disappointing

The level of disappointment is likely to be on rise with Afghanistan’s political syndrome, economic stagnation, administrative corruption, poverty and unemployment. The challenges are increasing on day-to-day basis. With the collapse of the Taliban regime, Afghan refugees flocked back to the country with the hope of peaceful life, democratic system, and prosperous state, but their dreams did not come true. The greater financial support Afghanistan earned, the poorer it got, the longer it fought, the more insecure it became, and economic and political challenges mushroomed.
The level of corruption has never decreased in Afghanistan’s government machinery despite all commitments made to root out corruption. A large number of government officials, except for few, focus their attention and energy on earning for their personal self-interests and nepotism. Not mentioning the Taliban’s involvement in smuggling mineral resources and narcotic drugs, Afghan strongmen are also deeply involved in all types of corruption, violation of law, and disorder. Worst, a number of officials are not exploiting their power less than the two mentioned groups with impunity.
With the endorsement of the post-Taliban constitution as well as conducting presidential and provincial elections, Afghans returned to the country to breathe a sigh of relief, get education without suffering contempt, work for the betterment of the society, and live a peaceful life. However, neither the Taliban’s supporters nor dishonest individuals remained indifferent. The Taliban were reorganized and sent back to the country to play their destructive role, which terrorized the nation and inflicted heavy havoc on Afghanistan’ political and economic systems. The dishonest individuals within the government capitalized on the dysfunctional system through their involvement corruption, making Afghanistan one of the most corrupt countries on the surface of earth.
Social, political and economic problems are deeply interwoven in the country. It is believed that the Taliban have their hands in glove with Mafia and other criminal networks to pave the ground for the poppy cultivation and smuggling drugs as well as mineral resources. On its part, their criminal allies are likely to equip them with arms and human resources. If you have money and power, you can easily infiltrate the government. If you bribe the corrupt officials, you can evade taxes, make fake documents, and even commit crime with impunity. Therefore, the cycle of corruption never stops and the crisis increases on daily basis. The question arises that what about the effect of the constitution and law?
The answer is simple, if you are poor, you have to abide by law or else you will suffer unjust sentences and punishments. That is to say, law is easily implemented on the poor and have-nots but the rich and strongmen commit crime with impunity. The large-scale corruption is committed by high-ranking officials including municipals and ministers.
With many national and international reports about killings, crime, and corruption, everything is being desensitized and officials show less attention to those challenges. In other words, although the media demonstrate the challenges and corruption rate to the public, they fall on the deaf ear of the government. Which of the challenges, which were rampant about two decades ago, have decreased so far? Corruption? Killings? Smuggling of mineral resources? Cultivation of narcotic drug? Violence and militancy? Injustice? The answer for each question is a big zero. 
There seems to be very little achievement or no achievement in resolving the aforementioned problems. With this in mind, Afghan youths sought refuge to other countries and the brain-drain increased tremendously. Similarly, the poverty rate skyrocketed, and corruption continued unabated. Violence and militancy still take heavy toll on soldiers and civilians and life remains extremely cheap. One’s life, property, and jobs are not guaranteed at all and everything is unstable. The political and economic systems remain dysfunctional.
Considering the above-mentioned issues, the level of public disappointment is also high. The gap between state and nation has widened since people lost their trust in the government officials. Afghan leaders failed to fulfill their mouth-watering commitments. Tensions between and within Afghan political leaders continue unabated.
I am not going to deny the long-lasting effect of war on Afghanistan, but if the country had more honest leaders and officials and more functional system, we bulk of the challenges could have been resolved especially as billions of dollars poured in after the collapse of the Taliban regime. But the large amount of money has been pocketed by high-ranking as well as low-ranking officials. It is hoped that the government pay serious attention to the ongoing challenges and root out corruption, poverty, unemployment, and insecurity or at least one of them.