There are a lot of accusations going around about how all the members of the Afghan government are corrupt, and that we need to stop the corruption. I can attest to the first part. But it's not as bad as you think, honestly. And here's why...
First, we have to define corruption, and then we have to acknowledge that we see corruption with the eyes of a westerner. So corruption to me is taking money as a member of the government (getting your cut) in exchange for making things happen. So, from a western perspective, are all members of the Afghan government corrupt? Pretty much.
But it's the norm here. And it used to be the norm in America. The goal here is not a corruption-free Afghanistan, but rather a functional government with an acceptable level of corruption. As our awesome (seriously, kick-butt) State Dept rep told me, "If they're 55-60% on the level, that's a win in my book." So good government officials here are not free of corruption, rather they just let their looking out for #1 not get in the way of the important thing, which is establishing a working Afghan government that can last. Once that happens, as people expect the government to actually do its job well, the corruption level will just naturally decrease as the greedy and stupid are punished.
Want an example? Some members of the provincial government actually threatened one of our BETTER contractors with being thrown in jail because of bad work quality on the road. None of the members of the government present had any knowledge of construction, nor any ability under the law to actually imprison. Squeezing the local contractor for a cut of the U.S. Government funds? Probably...
Ah well, life goes on. That's all from the wall.
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Insightful comment. The journalists and what we would call "activists" during the American Gilded Age who were trying to stamp out corruption finally came to realize it could not be completely eliminated, your job was to cut it down to an acceptable and workable level.
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