The season's new fashion is in, and this fall, in Afghanistan, it is corruption. Indeed, corruption has become the issue on which the entire international community has descended en masse, to berate, hector, analyse and pontificate. It is no one's contention that corruption is not a serious issue. Unfortunately, as with most seasonal occurrences, it is the symptom that usually catches attention – while leaving the roots of the real disease submerged like an iceberg.
Attention on corruption in Hamid Karzai's government began to gather momentum in the final stages of the electoral process, when it became clear that Karzai would become the next president following a deeply flawed electoral process. In an attempt to overcome the crisis of legitimacy caused by its own inability to take a clear and consistent position on rule of law, the international community, with the US in the lead, has attempted to try and make the Karzai government a better one by calling for action against corruption and linking it to the aid it will give Afghanistan. The UK government began to bleat in unison. Recently, in a well-choreographed performance, the ambassadors of both countries appeared with a galaxy of Afghan officials to announce new anti-corruption measures – in an outpouring of rhetoric that was unable to disguise that nothing was new.
So what are the facts on the ground? While the Karzai government has been ticked off ad nauseum, 80 percent of the money coming into this country is spent not through the government, but directly by the donors. Even if one assumes that the entirety of the government's money is being siphoned off by greedy Afghan officials, this still leaves several billion dollars that could, potentially, have transformed Afghanistan by now. Transparency International has just labelled Afghanistan the second most corrupt country in the world, and other surveys have shown that most Afghans consider this to be a serious problem. However, an earlier survey by Integrity Watch, a reputed Afghan NGO, has revealed that most Afghans would still prefer their own government to spend the funds than have the foreign agencies do it. While documentation on the amount of aid money for Afghanistan that willy-nilly returns to the donor nations is hard to come by, estimates suggest it is upto 40 percent.
This is not to suggest that corruption in the government is not a serious issue. The widespread corruption has undermined institutions of state in the making, leaving them weak and fragmented. For this, however, the international community shares at least equal blame. It has promoted individuals at the expense of institutions, following the principle of having 'our man' in each department, ministry or province.