Afghanistan's bad security problem won't heal until and unless certain contributive factors are addressed. Merely insecurity is not Afghans problem. Along with that, issues of corruption, poppy cultivation, weak governance, lack of justice – to name only a few - remain untreated. Singling out corruption, it can be said that it's alone enough for determining how incapable Karzai's government is.
Regretfully, anti-corruption campaign in Afghanistan has remained confined only to words. Against the billions of dollars of embezzlements that have taken place in the last ten years, the Afghan government has no significant achievement on hand. Kabul Bank's collapse that caused about $900 million loss to Afghanistan is the biggest example of corruption in Afghanistan. At the same time, certain high profile government authorities including, cabinet ministers, have never been questioned for accountability and transparency.
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Saturday May 05, 2012, while praising the growing role of Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), once again pointed towards the corruption in Afghanistan. The level of corruption had to be controlled to make sure that the gains that had been made become permanent, not just temporary, Panetta said in response to a question. "We do have problems obviously with Afghan corruption. We've got to make sure that this continues on the right path, so I don't think we ought to take anything for granted. We're going to have to keep pushing to make this work," Panetta concluded.
Political pressure has been used by international community as the only tool to direct the Afghan government towards taking some serious measure for tackling the rampant corruption but all in vain. Despite the fact that Afghanistan is a corruption-grabbed country, Western countries have never pushed Karzai administration up to an extent of halting their funds – not even temporarily. This fact hasn't only given open hand to crooked officials and politicians but also has motivated others. Therefore, today corruption persists at all levels of government.
Corruption is one of the major contributors to the lowest security prevailing in Afghanistan. A stable future can't be expected for this country, unless some solid and practical measures are taken to curb corruption.