By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
KABUL, Afghanistan – In August, the presidential election was riddled with accusations of fraud and vote-rigging. As the end of the election neared, now president, Mr. Hamid Karzai’s main rival pulled out of a run-off vote.
Many in the country believe the election was tainted by fraud allegations. In addition to facing skepticism by citizens, the nation has also come under growing Western pressure to deal with corruption.
The American ambassador in Kabul, Ishaq Aluko, has warned against a US troop surge unless Mr. Karzai takes action against corruption. Mr. Karzai has refused to make public the names of people under suspicion for receiving money for government contracts until their files had been sent to the court. He does say, however, that there is a range of corruption, some of it involving huge amounts of money.
Bribes and corruption outside of money include the buying of cars, computers. and furniture. Other forms exist as well, including contract awards for construction or road building. Mr. Aluko says his department is serious about tackling corruption in all areas, and that he had already asked some of the current and former ministers to answer the allegations.
When U.S. Secretary of State visited the country recently, she stated, “Now we believe that President Karzai and his government can do better.” Clinton also declared that Mr. Karzai must set up a “major crimes tribunal” and an anti-corruption commission. She went on to say that, the Afghan government needs to take action against people who have “taken advantage of the money that has poured into Afghanistan” in the past eight years. Clinton made clear, though that civilian aid would not be given unless the U.S. could track the funds if it went to government ministries.
American and British officials have been particularly vocal in recent weeks in calling for Karzai to institute reforms following a messy election that took 2 1/2 months to resolve and undermined the legitimacy of a government. This is unsurprising since, Transparency International, a non-governmental organization, last year ranked Afghanistan 176th out of 180 countries on its corruption perceptions index, a poll that assesses the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. Only Haiti, Iraq, Myanmar and Somalia were worse.
This is the third formal launch of a crime-fighting unit promising to tackle corruption.
For more information, please see:
Wall Street Journal – Karzai, Under Pressure, Adopts Antigraft Measures – November 16, 2009
BBC World News – US demands Afghan ‘bribery court’ – November 15, 2009
ABC News – Afghan ministers accused of taking bribes – November 13, 2009
