Building an efficient administration in Afghanistan has been one of the key objectives of the international community in the country. Hundreds of millions of aid dollars have been spent in direct or indirect ways on various large-scale projects aimed at boosting good governance and enhancing efficiency and accountability of the Afghan public institutions. However, the efforts aimed at promoting good governance have yielded little outputs with Afghanistan remaining one of the top corrupt countries in the world and the country’s public institutions being frustratingly unresponsive and unaccountable in delivering expected services to the public. With the war raging in the country, the prospects for the efforts to improve governance, enhance transparency and boost efficiency of the public sector is dimmer than ever.
Promotion of good governance was one of the key promises of the leaders of the national unity government during their presidential campaigns in 2014. After taking power, President Ashraf Ghani quickly moved to take some bold moves to curb corruption, boost transparency and improve overall governance in the country. However as expected, the plans has been lagging due to the deteriorating insecurity and political challenges and aftermaths of the controversial presidential election in 2014. Consequently, the much publicized reforms and initiatives of the national unity government started to wane with the protracted security challenges and the power struggle going on within the national unity government. The government’s initial moves to start scrutinizing government procurement offices and tackling Kabul Bank’s corruption case, the biggest financial scandal in the country, turned as marginal and solitary actions not producing the expected results.
The protracted war and insecurity has remained as the biggest hurdle to the efforts to boost good governance, fighting  corruption and enhance efficiency of the public institutions. The focus on the war against the Taliban has to a large extent deviated attentions from the crucial task of improving the government’s efficiency and accountability. The protracted insecurity has in fact overshadowed the campaign for boosting good governance and fighting corruption. The Afghan government has virtually been overwhelmed by the growing insurgency of the Taliban after the NATO alliance concluded its combat mission in the country. With all focus on the war and peace efforts, the issues of good governance and fighting corruption have turned into marginal issues for both the Afghan government and its supporters in the international community.
The ongoing war and violence across the country has its own impacts on the efforts to build an efficient establishment in Afghanistan. The insurgency wracks havoc across the country with continuing to ravage war and organize suicide and bombing attacks against government and public interests. The destructions left behind the day-to-day violence in the country have deeper and long-term effects on the social security, stability and order as well as economic prosperity of the citizens in affected areas. This in turn undermines the efforts to restore public confidence over the efficiency and credibility of the state and its efforts to restore order and boost good governance by delivering services and security. The spread of violence across the country and into once secure areas have further led to disbeliefs among the public over the capabilities of the government to restore law and order and provide services to the public.
The deteriorating security across the country has already started unraveling the achievements made during the last over a decade of efforts backed by the international community. The brief takeover of Kunduz city by the Taliban last year came as a blow to the government’s many years of efforts to establish government institutions and make them operational in the province. On the other hand, the endemic corruption has remained untamed with Afghanistan once again ranking as one of the top three most corrupt countries in the world. This is while probes have revealed that the there are hundreds of ghost schools with no staff and students in insecure provinces, draining public funding donated by the international community. This exposes a major efficiency gap in the governance in Afghanistan which needs to be dealt with urgently. A recent study by a world transparency advocacy group suggested that the efforts of the national unity government have failed to decrease corruption. The report came as a surprise as the government of President Ghani had taken some tough measures aimed at curbing corruption in the country.
Better governance require improved services, efficient public agencies, more investments and economic developments in the country and, in all, improvement of standards of services and overall social prosperity. Only then the public will start trusting government and public institutions and oppose non-state actors for instance the insurgent groups and help the government to fight corruption and extend central state’s control. The government needs to redouble efforts and start taking long-term measures aimed at improving economic well-being of the public as a prerequisite for boosting the public’s confidence to the state and public institutions.
The structure of the unity government and the post-presidential election politics has been one of the key obstacles preventing the government to make reforms and bring changes in various public and government sectors. The rivalries among political circles within the government have hampered the initiatives of the national unity government aimed at curbing corruption and improving governance in the country. This, on the other hand, has further weakened political will among the leaders of the national unity government to stay focused on promoting good governance and fighting corruption. Despite initial motives in the new administration, there is now some sort of visible fatigue and lack of resolve among the leaders of the national unity government to stick to their pledges on fighting corruption and boosting governance. The government needs to overcome differences in views and, instead of solitary and arbitrary measures, set a long-term approach for boosting good governance in the country. The government needs to institutionalize the campaign for good governance and the fight against corruption.