It is believed, and believed rightly, that corruption is one of the greatest hindrances in the way to economic, political and social wellbeing. No society should be counted developed and prosperous with the menace of corruption in its institutions and systems. Unfortunately, there is no society on the face of earth that is completely corruption free; however, there are certain societies that have been able to fight with it to a great extent and have reduced it considerably.

Unfortunately, our country, Afghanistan, has not been able to fight with it properly and it has penetrated deep within our society. Most of our individuals and institutions have been vehemently dominated by it, and we seem crippled against it. It is hapless to say that we have been unsuccessful both in intention and action. There are many, who, knowing the fact that corruption is poisonous for our society and even having the authority to control it, do not take measures against it, as it would go against their interests. At the same time, there are many others, who only pay lip service and fight against it theoretically; therefore, they are not able to design and carryout proper actions against this nuisance.

However, both the authorities and the people in Afghanistan must realize now that with the menace of corruption they will not be able to make any sort of difference in the times to come as it influences society in so many negative ways. The Afghanistan Chamber of Conference and Industry (ACCI) on Thursday, February 27, mentioned that administrative corruption has been the primary hindrance to investment in Afghanistan. ACCI deputy Chief Executive, Khan Jan Alokozai, told this at a day-long national conference of traders who had assembled to assess challenges faced by the private sector. He said that corruption remained the key hurdle to the private sector’s development, saying high ranking government officials were involved in the menace. Administrative corruption continued unabated despite the creation of a commission and the issuance of several presidential decrees. At the same time, the trader representative in the conference said that the private sector would support a presidential candidate, who had the will to eliminate corruption, a key reason behind growing unemployment. It is an undeniable fact that the corruption would never allow investment to flourish; though there may be a temporary boost in the economic activities on certain occasions, but in the long run it would eat the system like termites and would make it collapse, in no time. As noted by Pratibha Patil, “Corruption is the enemy of development, and of good governance. It must be got rid of. Both the government and the people at large must come together to achieve this national objective.”

Investment plays a key role in a country and is responsible for boosting economy to a large extent, which will, resultantly, support the political stability and social order. Nonetheless, within the corrupt system it is not possible to make investment corruption free as it is not possible for an individual to remain corruption free within such society. It is necessary that the whole system must be made corruption free; a single factor within the whole system can never be altered separately. As George Orwell had quoted, “The mistake you make, don't you see is in thinking one can live in a corrupt society without being corrupt oneself. After all, what do you achieve by refusing to make money? You're trying to behave as though one could stand right outside our economic system. But one can't. One's got to change the system, or one changes nothing. One can't put things right in a hole-and-corner way, if you take my meaning.”  And, this means that the whole system has to go through renovation.

Nevertheless, as Frank Serpico had said, “The fight for justice against corruption is never easy. It never has been and never will be.” There are many factors to consider and many things to change. One of the main issues in fighting with corruption in our society is that the control-mechanism has a large share in it. The government that should be on the vanguard to curb this hazard, itself has been a leading contributor in this regard. There have been numerous incidents of corruption when current administration has been held responsible for being directly caught up in the matter. From the issue of election to the Kabul Bank episode, the government has not been capable of extracting itself out clean. On most of the instances the government has blamed the Western supporters to be generating corruption in the country, but that would never suffice.

It has to be accepted now that corruption in Afghanistan is a multifaceted phenomenon that needs wide-ranging efforts from both national and international authorities to be resolved. Certainly, the anti-corruption institutions, authorized with power and facilities can be major factors in controlling it and Afghan government needs to establish them and promote 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. The individuals can then teach the same to their family members and friends and the whole process can go on. As A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had suggested, “If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher.”