Afghanistan ranks 179th out of 180 on corruption index!

Hmmm... I think I will appoint my close advisers to make sure I am not corrupt... yes.The U.S. is pointing a finger at the Afghan government, saying they have “serious shortcomings” and are without independence when it comes to their governing style. This comes along with several other statements and meetings by Obama over the last few days, one with senators and one with bankers, during which the administration has been flexing its muscle with the issues it has been dealing with around the world and at home. I see it as a sign that the government is a bit fed up with inaction, and they are looking not only to get people moving and more in line with the administration’s vision, but also to call some people out in line with public opinion.

While Afghan president Hamid Karzai has formed what he is calling an anti-corruption body, a U.S. audit says that it is anything but- and the administration is not happy about it. Reuters describes the audit (done by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction) as harshly critical of the High Office of Oversight (HOO) [!].

Problems range from being understaffed to not having any organization or monetary independence to be effective- wait… is this ringing any bells about the Fed???

The report is not kind:

"The HOO suffers from serious shortcomings as an institution both in terms of its operational capacity and the legislative framework on which it is based.”

Well ok then. So our own audit has said that the Afghan structure for making sure that they are doing a good job of keeping out corruption from the government is not even close to being able to do its job- meaning, without saying it directly, that it is corrupt. And if the organization meant to keep the government free of corruption is corrupt, then you know the government is corrupt- so what, I wonder, does this mean for President Obama’s plan for an 18 month strike and withdrawal? Transparency International ranked Afghanistan as 179th out of 180 on their annual corruption index- yikes! (I don’t know who #180 is either)

Predictably, this has led the U.S. to call for reform and to tell Karzai that cleaning up the corruption needs to be a priority. Many of the people who are on the anti-corruption task force are also advisers to Karzai- leading to obvious and inevitable problems, conflicts of interest.

"I believe that holding two government positions simultaneously, compromises the independence of the HOO and can, and in this case does, create a conflict of interest," said Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction Arnold Fields.

Obviously. And how can we possibly expect them to change much now? If we have been aiding them for years now and propping up Karzai’s government, what are we going to say at this point that will make them change? It’s like trying to change the rules on a teenager when they are 15 or 16- it’s already been one way for so long- when you sit down and have the talk, they are already rolling their eyes inside their head because they know how it really works.

How much of that will be Afghanistan’s reaction to this new audit? I fear too much.

Photo Credit: World Economic Forum (via Flickr under CCL)