Living in country that has fallen in the list of the most corrupt countries of the world makes one realize what 'corruption' really means. Very unfortunately, bribery has turned into a culture in Afghanistan. This trend has economically pressed the poor section that forms more than sixty percent of Afghanistan's population. People are sick of paying millions of Afghanis in bribes each year for receiving basic government services for which they are already paying in form of various kinds of taxes. With no one giving ear to their voices, people have become totally hopeless. In the public eyes, the credibility of government is falling swiftly.
No significant effort is in place to counter the growth of corruption in Afghanistan, although such a measure is the need of time in the country. There is not merely domestic pressure on the government for not having achieved any significant success against the deep-rooted corruption in the national system. There are also intensive international critics.
To all these, the present administration has no proper answer and there is true willingness to fight corruption. In the government's point of view, foreigners are majorly responsible for vastly spreading corruption. President Hamid Karzai has time and again stressed over this point. Nonetheless, the government has failed to impart any sort of evidences as demanded by authorities in foreign organizations working inside Afghanistan. Reason for failing to produce any kind of such evidence is clear. The government seems to have no control over the great number of contracts being executed by foreign organizations.
The foreigners can be responsible for the corruption but the government needs to clean itself first. In other words the government must not escape from its responsibilities. It must also use its powers to ask foreign organization for transparency and accountability.
Lowest security level is prevailing in Afghanistan. We must not neglect the fact that corruption has a great role in it. With deep corruption existing in its systems, it seems improbable for the government to successfully address serious problems like weak governance, limited rule of law and other political, economic and social issues. To all the factors contributing to the failure of government in various sectors, corruption has a prominent contribution.
It is not so that the government has not taken measures to tackle corruption but they have been insufficient. Unless the law makers become the law protectors instead of law breakers, corruption and problems given birth by it will persist.