Eradicating Corruption

Abstract

During the last 16 years, corruption has become a serious threat to peace and governance in Afghanistan. Governmental and non-governmental organizations as well as donors waste huge amounts of aid and domestic revenues because of corruption and inefficient expenditures. For the last few years, Afghanistan has continuously kept the title of one of the most corrupt countries in the world. According to Transparency International’s 2017 Corruption Perception Index report (Transparency International, Corruption Preconceptions Index 2017, Retrieved 22 February 2018, from https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_perceptions_index_2017), Afghanistan ranks fourth, 177th out of 180 countries included in the survey. This shows that President Ghani’s anti-corruption strategy is effective. Afghanistan is no longer the first corrupt country in the world; now it is the fourth most corrupt county, after Syria, South Sudan and Somalia. It is important to know that the culture of corruption is a new phenomenon in Afghanistan, but because of continued conflict and weak rule of law that has combined with significant money flow and uncertainty in the future, it has rapidly spread across the country to all sectors of the economy and governance. Prior to the collapse of Dr. Najibullah’s government in 1992, government employees were honest and committed to serving the nation while earning very little and this was partly because of the idea of socialism and certainty in employment in the public sector, and although human rights violations were taking place, corruption was not common.