Global Policy Forum

By Y.P. Rajesh

Corruption has hit unprecedented levels in Afghanistan and risks undermining the legitimacy of a government struggling with reconstruction and fighting a resurgent Taliban, a watchdog said on Monday. A survey by Integrity Watch Afghanistan (IWA) found that half the 1,250 people polled across the country had paid bribes last year while almost everyone perceived that one in every two government or public service was corrupt.

The report released on Monday estimated that every Afghan household had paid an average bribe of $100 last year in one of the world's poorest countries where per capita income is about $500. The bribes amounted to anything between $260 million and $465 million for the country as a whole, according to the report, which IWA said was the first of its kind.

"Corruption is very dangerous for a country which is on the path to be reconstructed, where the legitimacy of the new state is very necessary," IWA executive director Lorenzo Delesgues told a news conference. "It has also increased the feeling of injustice among the people," he said, adding that high levels of graft showed "the state doesn't control its territory totally".

President Hamid Karzai's Western-backed government faces increasing disillusionment over its failure to provide people with jobs and the fact that much of the billions of dollars in foreign aid is wasted or lost in corruption.

Obstacle to Peace

The government, analysts and foreign backers say graft, opium and the Taliban-led insurgency, along with the lack of jobs, are the major obstacles to peace and prosperity. Ordinary Afghans complain they have to pay bribes for everything from getting passports to securing electricity for homes and even to pay taxes.

In Kabul, some businesses bribe power workers with beer to remain hooked into the public electricity grid for extra hours. Officials say graft fuels Afghanistan's multi-billion-dollar opium trade and, in turn, the bloody Islamist insurgency. Last year, Karzai formed a commission to draft a strategy to combat corruption but analysts say his efforts have yet to succeed, with graft highly endemic with even senior politicians and officials said to be involved.

The IWA survey said Afghanistan's courts were the most corrupt, followed by the Interior Ministry, which controls the police. Municipalities, the Finance Ministry, the directorate of national security and the Justice Ministry were next, it said. This had an impact on national security, particularly in the south, it said, adding that the Taliban alone could not be blamed for the rise in violence there.

About 60 percent of those polled said the Karzai administration was more corrupt than the Taliban, the Mujahideen or the Communists who have governed over recent decades. "Over 60 percent ... said corruption had increased their disaffection towards the state, a figure so high that it risks undermining the legitimacy of the state and its backers in the international community," the report said.

Delesgues said the international community had a big role to play in curbing graft in Afghanistan. "It can help the government to come up with strategies to fight corruption and also bring in experiences from other countries," he said.