Afghans Weigh Down with Bribes
In Afghanistan, a country plunged into a crisis as a consequence of nine years of war against the United States, it is not national insecurity, unemployment or generalized poverty that most stresses people out but rather corruption.
A recent report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) based on a study involving some 7,600 people from twelve of Afghanistan’s main cities and more than 1,600 towns, revealed that in 2009 Afghans paid some US $2.5 billion in bribes. The exorbitant figure is equivalent to a forth of the country’s GDP.
These practices hold back development and detract from the credibility of authorities. But what else could be expected of power structures in a nation where President Hamid Karzai —a Washington puppet— came into office via a rigged election?
The UNDOC report informs that bribes averaged around $160 per person —almost half the average yearly wage of $425. In 2009 alone, more than half of the population had to bribe a government official at least once.
Most payments went to the hands of the police, judges and politicians, but the survey also found that international organizations and NGOs are part of the network of corruption. Some people noted that these organizations had come to their country only to get rich. It is also shocking to learn that even the so-called “saviors” are extorting the Afghan people in exchange for “help.”
The extended and unpunished corruption network that plagues the nation also creates favorable grounds for drug trafficking and terrorism. It is not by chance that as of 2001—when Mr. Bush began his crusade against terror— opium production shot up in Afghanistan. Currently, 90 percent of the opium consumed worldwide is produced there, in the same occupied territory that US troops are supposed to be guarding.
Despite bombings and daily checks by soldiers armed to the teeth, it is not insecurity, but public dishonesty what Afghans consider as the main problem facing their nation today.
The UN report states that in 56 percent of the cases, officials demanded bribes explicitly, and that one third of the bribes are paid in cash.
«Afghans said that it was impossible to access public services without bribing an official,” UNODC Head Antonio Maria Costa told the BBC. “It’s an unbearable tax for one of the poorest nations of the world. The worst is that a third of the people believe that there’s no way out and that this is the only way to do it. That’s the reason they rarely denounce such cases.»
Everyday life is undermined by the discredit brought on everybody and everything. Meanwhile, western politicians think that sending more troops to Afghanistan is the key to success. Don’t they read the UN reports?
