Corruption, nepotism, graft, bribery and embezzlement are all various forms, shapes and names of a single evil that have grasped almost all sectors in Afghanistan. It is simply the greatest injustice to the rights of people of Afghanistan that billions of dollars of international aids poured for the development and reconstruction of the country are just allowed to go futile and merely fill the pockets of certain groups of people including land and drug mafias, crooked government officials and even insurgents.
Only those people know the real meaning of corruptionthat live an environment where they observe, hear and sometimes wontedly or unwontedly get involved in it. Such an environment does prevail in Afghanistan and its people are those who pay billions of dollars as bribes every year to access services what should be provided to them without any trouble or spending their money illegally.
One admits or denies, corruption has cracked Afghanistan from within. This is because there has been no consistent and effective effort to curb it in the last 12 years. Those who are involved in embezzlement of billions of dollars roam freely inside and outside Afghanistan as their affiliation with certain strong political figures turns out to be heavier than Afghan laws.
The main purpose of establishment of High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption, Anti-corruption Unit of Attorney General’s Office, concerned unit of National Directorate of Security and specific anti-corruption sections in certain government entities is fighting and preventing corruption, bribery, embezzlement, nepotism and other related crimes. Nonetheless, this is only the common people who fall in their trap and big fishes involved in huge cases of corruption remain unbound of any law and any regulation.
Seeing the fragility of security, political and economic condition, one can say that huge of amounts international funds poured in Afghanistan have all gone futile leaving negligible positive impacts on the living condition of the people of this country.
Gradually, corruption has turned into a part of Afghan culture. What we are gifting to our coming is the bad trend of bribery and nepotism. The roots of such evils must be burnt out today or else it will burn us.
An Afghanistan where insecurity, corruption, poppy cultivation and other similar and serious issues exist is not the Afghanistan that its people want and desire for. The international community and the Afghan government must now take some serious and urgent measures to counter the root causes of corruption or else this evil might bring catastrophic results for this country.