Corruption in Afghanistan

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Corruption in Afghanistan is a widespread and growing problem in Afghan society. Transparency International's 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index ranks the country in 162nd place out of 180 countries. The 180 countries of the Index are scored on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean") according to the perceived corruption in the public sector, and then ranked by their score.^[1] Afghanistan's 2023 ranking is based on a score of 20. For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), the average score was 43, and the worst score was 11 (ranked 180).^[2] For comparison with regional scores, the highest score among the countries of the Asia Pacific region^{[Note 1]} was 85, the average score was 45 and the lowest score was 17. In this region, only North Korea had a lower score than Afghanistan.^[3] The Taliban significantly tackled corruption upon taking power in 2021; Afghanistan was ranked in 150th place in the 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index, following a ranking of 174th in 2021.^[4]

"In opinion surveys of Afghans," noted the Asia Foundation in a 2012 report, "corruption is consistently singled out as a problem."^[5]

One of the recent major corruption cases was the 2010–13 Kabul Bank financial scandal involving Mahmood Karzai and others close to President Hamid Karzai. The Kabul Bank scandal, crisis, investigation and trial involved Sherkhan Farnood, Khalilullah Fruzi, Mohammed Fahim, and other insiders who were allegedly spending the bank's US$1 billion for their personal lavish living style as well as lending money under the table to family, friends, and those close to President Hamid Karzai and Mahmood Karzai.^[6] As of October 2012, the government only recovered $180 million of the $980 million fraudulent loans.^[7]

A U.N. survey listed corruption and insecurity as the two issues of greatest concern to Afghans as of 2012. The New York Times has written that in Afghanistan, "corruption can no longer be described as a cancer on the system: It is the system."^{[citation needed]} The U.S. Agency for International Development stated in 2009 that corruption in Afghanistan had "become pervasive, entrenched, systemic, and by all accounts now unprecedented in scale and reach."^[8]

In a 2011 survey by the Asia Foundation, Afghans said corruption was their "third biggest problem (21%) after insecurity (35%) and unemployment (23%)." In 2010 and 2011, they said corruption was their second most important reason for feeling pessimistic about Afghanistan (16% in 2011 and 27% in 2010). In 2011, they identified administrative corruption as the government's second most important failure (25%). This marked an improvement over 2010, when the figure was 30%.^[8]

In Afghanistan today, corruption most often takes the form of demanding and offering bribes, both in the private and public sectors and on large and small scales. There are also many other major forms of corruption, including nepotism, graft, and illegal land transfers. The US Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has estimated that over half of the nation's annual customs revenue is lost to graft.^[8]

In a 2015 article, Parag R. Dharmavarapu noted that while Afghanistan's GDP had quintupled since 2002, the society remained riddled with corruption. "What is extremely disconcerting about corruption in Afghanistan," wrote Dharmavarapu, "is not simply the number or value of bribes that take place; instead, it is the endemic nature of corruption within the Afghan government". Routinely, noted Dharmavarapu, "police officers extort goods from shopkeepers, levy taxes on vehicles at highway checkpoints, and impose fines on individuals unable to produce proper identification documents." Some police officers "turn a blind eye to or even collude with criminals and insurgents," while mid- to high-level police officials "collaborate with criminals in smuggling, kidnapping for ransom and other illegal activities, collecting thousands of dollars in the process." Top police officials "have siphoned millions of dollars from international donors to their own pockets." The most common types of corruption in Afghanistan, according to Dharmavarapu, are:

• Petty bribery – Asking for small gifts (baksheesh) in exchange for special treatment or favors
• Position buying – Awarding opportunities in the police force, judiciary or civil service based on bribes as opposed to merit
• Nepotism/clientelism – Awarding positions based on personal relationship/kinship networks rather than merit
• Offering and asking for preferential treatment – This includes giving bribes to expedite the processing of business documents or access to government-owned land
• Grand corruption – Corruption that involves political elites on a large scale
• National police and law enforcement graft^[9]

According to the High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption (HOOAC), corruption is rampant in the north of the country, particularly, Balkh Province which borders neighboring Uzbekistan, a country with similar corruption problems.^[10] One of the worst manifestations of graft is illegal land grabbing. Shamsullah Javed, HOOAC head for the northern zone, in an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, explained that "in Balkh, there are three kinds of encroachment on land: One government department seizing the property of another, security forces occupying government land and individuals taking unlawful possession of people's land." He revealed that 52 out of 60 housing schemes in Balkh were executed illegally. "Government servants, from top to bottom, are involved in the scourge ... Some people, whose interests are hurt by investigations into corruption cases, are creating problems for us," Javed said.^[11]

Investigative journalist Sibel Edmonds has undertaken efforts as a journalist and whistleblower to raise awareness about corruption in Afghanistan and waste, fraud and abuse involving billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayers' money lost to corruption and corrupt officials in Afghanistan following the U.S. intervention.

"The great challenge to Afghanistan's future isn't the Taliban, or the Pakistani safe havens or even an incipiently hostile Pakistan," Gen. John R. Allen told a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee in 2014. "The existential threat to the long-term viability of modern Afghanistan is corruption." He stated that the insurgency, criminal patronage networks, and drug traffickers had formed "an unholy alliance".^[12]

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