A joint report released by two major transparency advocacy organizations warns that the government of Afghanistan “can only ensure survival of the state and bring about peace in the country if it acts immediately to prevent corruption, limit political interference and nepotism, and bring the corrupt to justice”. The assessment of the Transparency International and its partner organization Integrity Watch Afghanistan has examined weaknesses that have undermined billions of dollars of international assistance to Afghanistan and helped the prolonged war in Afghanistan. In reaction to the report, an official of the Human Rights Watch has said that Afghan president Ashraf Ghani has committed himself to fighting corruption, and the report provides a roadmap for him to fulfill his promise.
The report is released at a time when the efforts of the Afghan government and its international backers are focused on security issues and making peace with the Taliban. The government is facing unprecedented task of fighting a heightened Taliban insurgency after the drawdown of US forces and the conclusion of NATO combat mission in the country. The anti-insurgency campaign has been immensely overwhelming for the Afghan government after the draw downing of foreign forces. The Afghan government’s focus on the war efforts as well as the peace process has potentially undermined its anti-corruption campaign. The collective efforts backed by the international community to fight corruption and promote good governance in Afghanistan have largely gone into a marginal issue.
This is while fighting corruption was one of the key election promises of the leaders of the national unity government in the 2014 presidential elections. Despite some drastic measures in some key high-profile cases of corruption, the national unity government has largely failed in leading a genuine fight against corruption due to the distracting and overwhelming security challenges and the pervasiveness of corruption in public and government institutions. A recent report by the International Transparency put Afghanistan among top three most corrupt countries in the world. Based on the report, corruption has increased in Afghanistan since the takeover of the national unity government in the country. The report clearly suggested that the anti-corruption efforts of the national unity government had failed.
What further compounds the challenges for fighting corruption in Afghanistan is that there is less cohesion among the Afghan leaders over the critical issue. While corruption is particularly pervasive among senior management of the government and public institutions, government and public authorities are often quarrelling over who are corrupt and how to find ways to fight this menace. There have been blame games going on among leaders, government officials and members of the parliament. Lack of cohesion among the political spectrum in the country has further undermined government’s ability to monitor government and public agencies and pursue corrupt officials. And lack of oversight, in turn, has been as an incentive and encouraged corrupt officials and public representatives to continue misusing public funding.
The approach of the government leaders to fight corruption has been terribly flawed. The government has failed to forge a comprehensive anti-corruption policy and institutionalize fighting corruption. So far, there have been sporadic measures taken by the government in dealing with some few but important cases of corruption. The measures to deal with the biggest cases of financial scandals such as the Kabul Bank’s corruption case are praiseworthy. However, the efforts have not been systematic and sustainable, and failed to make any perceivable difference in reducing corruption in the country. The government is bound to amend its approach and promote the anti-corruptions efforts into a comprehensive and long-term sustainable campaign. Only an institutionalized campaign would be able to get Afghanistan rid of the phenomenon.
The task is particularly an excruciating task given that corruption is highly pervasive in government and public institutions and many of the authorities involved with the anti-corruption efforts are themselves corrupt. In fact, almost the whole system is corrupt. The government cannot start a genuine anti-corruption campaign without establishing a clean and committed agency with sufficient authority to drive and lead the campaign. For this and for leading a sustainable anti-corruption campaign, the government needs to heed the call of the Transparency International and Integrity Watch Afghanistan and implement its recommendations. As the first step, the government should establish a new independent, committed and corruption-free body to lead and oversee the efforts against corruption. Once initiating such a plan, the government needs to ensure that the new body would work free of political interferences from outside.
The effectiveness and legitimacy of the Afghan judiciary is also undermined by the pervasive corruption. Afghan judges are believed to be involved in day-to-day corruption when resolving legal disputes. There were reports in the past of high-profile detainees such as corrupt officials, drug lords and other potentially dangerous elements being released from prisons through paying bribes to the judges and government authorities. According to media reports, at the height of Afghanistan and US campaign on drugs before 2010, some prominent drug lords, with some of whom having international fame, managed to escape Afghan detention centers by help of corrupt officials and government authorities.  The Afghan government needs to boost the status, legitimacy and efficiency of the judiciary by building it anew and fighting corruption from within institution. At the beginning days of his presidency, Ashraf Ghani took some drastic measures aimed at reforming the Afghan judicial system. But admittedly the measures have gone nowhere as there have been no comprehensive anti-corruption efforts driven by political will from the government and national consensus. The government should not waste time in getting the fight on track and leading it to the right direction. For a successful anti-corruption drive, the government first needs to promote political consensus at national level; and then start leading an institutionalized campaign against corruption. As noted by the Transparency International’s report, successful campaign against corruption is crucial for the success of the efforts to bring peace and stability and build democracy in Afghanistan.