By: Mirwais Jalalzai
Fed up with never-ending corruption and impunity among Afghan governmental officials, member of Parliament, province councils and police chiefs, Afghan local people and dispose communities calling on the United States and European Union to impose, political, economic and visa sanctions against select businesspeople and current officials.
The idea is gaining ground as those Afghans living inside country and their families watch with deepening dismay while the nation’s anti-corruption drive is subverted, diluted or delayed by top officials.
The U.S., European Union and other donors have cited corruption as the greatest threat to efforts to rebuild the country, and the government risks cuts in funding because of it. Afghanistan still relies on donors for most of its income. The U.S. alone has spent more than $113 billion on reconstruction since 2001.
Corruption in Afghanistan is a widespread and growing problem. Afghanistan ranks 174 of 176 in Transparency International’s 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index and is routinely named as one of the world’s five most corrupt countries. (North Korea and Somalia were ranked as equally corrupt).
In November 2015 Afghanistan government officials announced a massive real estate deal with a well-known businessperson. Involving 8,800 homes in central Kabul, the agreement had an initial investment of at least US$95 million.
But soon after the agreement, problem reveled and the person in question was Khalilullah Frozi , who’s currently imprisoned for his role in the Kabul Bank scandal. Mr. Frozi who reportedly only serves his sentence at night, said the deal would help him pay back the US$137 million he owes the government as part of his sentence. While the agreement was ultimately dropped in the face of criticism, it’s an indication of the corruption that continues to plague Afghanistan.
Afghan people believe U.S. President Barack Obama, who’s government is the main supporter of Afghan government in fight against terrorism, should be doing more
to help Afghans combat the corruption among their elite, as well as to win the war
against Taliban and other hardliner Islamic groups.
EU and US ambassadors to Kabul asked afghan government that Afghan people ‘need
to fight corruption, was uncharacteristically silent on the possibility of reduce of
International aid to this war turns country.
President Ghani has made big promises during his electoral campaigns to crack down on corruption but still this country is one of top 3 corrupted countries in the world and local people prefer to ask the Taliban courts and local administrations to solve their problems where bribe has no meaning.
The EU and U.S. had been several times asked by afghan social activist, civil society and anti corruption body’s to apply travel bans, asset freezes or other restrictions on some top corrupted elites, mainly those tied to the Hamid Karzai regime.
Afghan people are not satisfied with the anti corruption efforts which are made or going to be made by the National Unity Government people says that’s not enough.
“Our government is weak and ineffective in comparison to other governments, we’ve just begun, but the big corruption, the hundreds of millions of dollars of corruption, it was not Afghan, now everybody knows that. It was foreign, the contracts, the subcontracts, the blind contracts given to people, money thrown around to buy loyalties, money thrown around to buy submissiveness of Afghan government officials, to policies and designs that the Afghans would not agree to. That was the major part of corruption, former Afghan president Hamid Karzai said in his resent speech to a Jerga ( local meeting) in Kabul.
The independent Monitoring and Evaluation Committee, or MEC, in its half yearly report released in Kabul 25 February 2016 expressed its concern about the ability of members of President Ashraf Ghani’s national unity government, or NUG, to work together to effectively address issues related to corruption. Despite “small signs” of progress in the fight against corruption, Afghanistan’s official commitment to effectively address the problem is weakening, eroding public trust in the administration’s ability to govern. “Despite campaign promises by both leaders to prioritize the fight against corruption, there are significant and increasing concerns about the ability of the National Unity Government (NUG) – after more than one year in power – to effectively address issues related to corruption, let alone other critical areas, such as security or employment.”
An arrest warrant has been issued for, the former head of the national airline Ariana, who isposted as wanted on the Interpol website and believed to have fled to the United States. A police source said the lack of extradition treaties with Afghanistan was hindering the search.”These guys have gone abroad and are almost claiming immunity,” he said. “There’s not much that can be done unless they come back.”
Nasima Niazi , an independent member of Afghan parliament, is among many
lawmakers and civil society activists who have long called on the US and West to take tougher measures.
Our big contributor like US and EU should impose “sanctions against top corrupt Afghans close to the authorities,” She wrote. “Western financial institutions have enough levers to ban them from entering the civilized world. For instance, personal sanctions against the corrupt officials who buy real estate at world-famous resorts, unable to verify the origin of the Money. That would be a strong message for the corrupt officials to return the money for afghan reconstruction which taken abroad by the gang of former and current government. The West is not rushing to return the money stolen from the our poor nation, citing the absence of evidence by the Prosecutor General’s Office.”
In an interview with media she said, she has personally raised the issue with
EU member countries ambassadors and , UN top officials in Kabul, and went so far as to suggest the names of those Afghans who she thinks would be deserving targets for sanctions.
Member of civil society Mr.Selab Waziri told the media that he, in principle, favors U.S. sanctions against corrupt members of Afghan’s elite. “In general, I agree with the suggestions,” Waziri said. “Especially, regarding real estate issues. Visas is yet another good idea to consider.”
A spokesman for the United Nations said: “Recent action that we have seen is encouraging and must be continued robustly if the authorities are to build confidence,” “The Afghan people and the international community expect the authorities to root out corruption wherever it is identified.”
Last week A new anticorruption body created by the president Ghani. its expected to start work next week, the president’s office said, in a bid to respond to longstanding complaints from foreign donors about fraud ahead of vital fundraising conferences this year.
The new Anti-Corruption Council will lead the fight against corruption and the president will chair meetings himself, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The role of the council—which includes two vice presidents, presidential advisers and various oversight bodies—will be to coordinate among them and to draw up a national anticorruption policy.
“There were always gaps in the system,” the president’s office said. “The role of the council will be to coordinate the various agencies and ensure there is a political will, authority and safeguards to do so.”
Franz-Michael Mellbin, the European Union’s envoy to Afghanistan, said donors had the feeling that corruption was getting worse and looked forward to seeing the results of council’s work.
“What we need to be convinced about is that steps are being taken, that the country is moving in the right direction.”
The EU envoy added: “The biggest problem we face is impunity—the feeling people can get away with it and nothing happens and that needs to change.”
The president’s office said the council’s agenda would include the review of 1,500 corruption cases that have stalled, and that Mr. Ghani’s participation will help prevent outsiders from interfering in the process.
“Most cases in the past were stopped because a powerful person was involved,” said a member of his press office, adding that the council would start work this week.
The independent Monitoring and Evaluation Committee, or MEC, in its half yearly report released in Kabul 25 February 2016 expressed its concern about the ability of members of President Ashraf Ghani’s national unity government, or NUG, to work together to effectively address issues related to corruption. Despite “small signs” of progress in the fight against corruption, Afghanistan’s official commitment to effectively address the problem is weakening, eroding public trust in the administration’s ability to govern. “Despite campaign promises by both leaders to prioritize the fight against corruption, there are significant and increasing concerns about the ability of the National Unity Government (NUG) after more than one year in power to effectively address issues related to corruption, let alone other critical areas, such as security or employment.”
