WASHINGTON - The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) have said that the existence of corruption in the Afghan government have strengthened the lines of the Taliban insurgent group in the country.
According to the U.S. watchdog, Taliban is recruiting from local communities by giving examples of corrupt officials in the central government.
Speaking at Wilson Center in Washington, John F. Sopko, the Head of SIGAR on Wednesday urged the U.S. government to priorities the counter-corruption efforts in Afghanistan.
However, Sopko praised the performance of President Ashraf Ghani’s government for its counter-corruption efforts. He said the current government has performed better compared with the previous government led by Former President Hamid Karzai.
In addition, the Head of SIGAR blamed Washington for doing very little to prevent corruption in Afghanistan.
Rayhana Azad, an Afghan lawmaker believes that corruption in the Afghan institutions cannot be tackled in a short period of time, rather it requires a long-term anti-corruption strategy. She urges the government to make a decision about former government officials, who are accused of fraud and other wrongdoings.
Latif Mahmud, Ghani’s Deputy Spokesman says that government is committed to fight against corruption, and it has implemented “key indicators and fundamental standards” for reducing the level of corruption.
Meanwhile, Naser Timory, a Researcher at the Integrity Watch Afghanistan (IWA), told Ariana News that the level of small corruptions in the National Unity Government have been estimated about $1.7 billion. He added that it is a considerable amount for a poor country like Afghanistan, which hugely depends to the support of the international community.
This comes as fighting corruption was the main slogan of the National Unity Government leaders, during the last four years. But, corruption still remains a huge challenge in the war-torn country. (ATN)