"Conference organizers seek action on Afghan corruption; International partners lose patience on issue" by Heidi Vogt, Associated Press | December 15, 2009
KABUL, Afghanistan - President Hamid Karzai convenes a three-day conference on corruption today, a gathering that organizers hope will at least produce public acknowledgment that Afghanistan’s government runs on bribery, graft, and favoritism that fuels the Taliban insurgency....
Related: All Afghans Are Corrupt
And how they are different from other governments?
The international community has expressed skepticism that this week’s conference will be much more than talk....
Like that other one!
International tolerance for corruption is running thin as the United States and its international partners prepare to send thousands more soldiers to confront the growing Taliban insurgency. Last month, Afghanistan slipped three places in Transparency International’s annual index of corruption perceptions, becoming the world’s second most corrupt country, ahead of Somalia.
Pervasive ballot-box stuffing in the August vote delayed results for months and laid bare to the world a government dominated by cronyism and favor-trading. That prompted a debate in the United States and other nations over whether to send more troops to prop up the Karzai government.
PFFFFFT!!
There was NEVER a QUESTION!!
Withdrawal was NEVER an OPTION!
Why the DECEPTION, MSM?
Afghans regularly complain that they have to grease palms to get anything done in a country where the government barely operates outside large cities.
As WELL THEY SHOULD!
And you are NOT ALONE, Afghans!
We just call them TAXES here!!!!
Police and district officials routinely supplement low wages by exacting fees for services.
Like I said, TAXES!
Getting official documents such as birth certificates, driver’s licenses, or passports usually requires small payments to clerks to receive the application and to other government workers to process papers. In rural areas, local warlords often have more say on who can hold farmland than any ownership document.
Here they are town officials, but you get the point.
Sort of wondering where the differences are.
NATO officials believe that such practices undermine support for the national government and encourage rural Afghans to support the Taliban. Ershad Ahmadi, the deputy head of the government office responsible for fighting corruption, said he hopes the conference will be a first step to ending the government’s state of denial about graft. “There must be some strong recommendation, actually an admission, a national confession that corruption is receiving social and political support in Afghanistan,’’ Ahmadi said.
Karzai has said that fraud in the August election was not as widespread as international observers suggested. Although Karzai has acknowledged corruption is a problem, he has often chafed at suggestions that it is a problem big enough to undermine the state. He has repeatedly said that international donors should focus on cleaning up corruption among their own contractors in Afghanistan....
Related: The OverBearing Government of Afghanistan
Maybe he has a point.
Mohammad Qasim Akhgar, the editor of a major Kabul newspaper, said many Afghans are impatient for real action.
We are SO ALIKE in SO MANY WAYS!!!
“Any step toward fighting corruption is important at this critical point,’’ he said. But he fears that the conference will be dominated by grandstanding officials. “It would be better if instead of all these opening remarks by officials, they would just go to work,’’ he said. “We have heard it all over the past eight years.’’
So have we!!!!
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"Car bombing kills 8 in Afghan capital; Karzai prepares to announce new Cabinet" by Laura King, Los Angeles Times | December 16, 2009KABUL, Afghanistan - Senior Afghan officials were convening to discuss measures to combat corruption, a topic of keen interest to Western governments. Karzai, who is beginning a second term as president after a fraud-tainted election, has been warned that he must clean up graft and bribery in his government or face the potential loss of backing by the United States and other key members of the Western military coalition....
--more--"Related: US diplomat raised notion of ousting Karzai as Afghan leader
Nope, we are going to embrace the whole cabal of crooks:
"Karzai to present new Afghan Cabinet; Ministers favored by West will stay" by Laura King, Los Angeles Times | December 19, 2009
What a SHAM!
So the conference (like the other one) was NOTHING but FART MIST, 'eh?
KABUL, Afghanistan - President Hamid Karzai is poised to unveil a new Cabinet that retains a number of respected ministers with the West’s stamp of approval, but also at least one notorious former warlord, aides disclosed yesterday.
How come we don't get any names?
Karzai’s ministerial lineup, which could be announced as soon as today, is being watched closely by the United States and its Western allies as an indicator of whether he is serious about cracking down as promised on rampant corruption in his government.
PFFFFFFTTT!
Corruption is many Afghans’ chief grievance against their leaders, pervading nearly all aspects of daily life.... A list of likely Cabinet members circulating yesterday included at least half a dozen ministers who have received the public blessing of US and other Western officials - mainly those most closely associated with security, or with other ministries through which large amounts of foreign aid are funneled....
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Translation: NOTHING has CHANGED -- but YOU are meant to think that something did, Amurkn!!!
