Karzai's Biggest Threat May Be Corruption

(CBS)  President Obama is still weighing whether to send more troops to fight in Afghanistan, amid worries that the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai is riddled with corruption, reports CBS News Correspondent Mandy Clark from Kabul.

Corruption and cronyism riddled Afghanistan's August elections and are now the biggest challenges facing the Karzai administration.

"Corruption is the biggest enemy in Afghanistan. It's much, much bigger than the Taliban, it's much, much bigger than al Qaeda," a senior official told CBS News.

But getting rid of the warlords who thrive on kick backs might be the biggest challenge. President Karzai's vice president, Marshal Qasem Fahim, has been accused by the United States of drug trafficking. Fahim denies the accusation.

Special Report: Afghanistan

Karzai also convinced another warlord, General Abdul Rashid Dostum, to support him in the election.

Dostum is accused of war crimes, including the deaths of 2,000 prisoners. President Obama wants the crimes reinvestigated.

But Karzai's brother poses the greatest threat to the Afghan president's resolve in tackling corruption. Ahmed Wali Karzai is accused of drug trafficking and appropriating land for private use.

"There has to be pressure from the international community on President Karzai to clean up the cabinet as best he can so that he doesn't have to give powerful governerships and cabinet posts to people who are guilty of some very serious human rights violations," said John Dempsey of the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Fixing corruption will also help boost Karzai's legitimacy in the eyes of many Afghans. Karzai is ready to make the change and says to expect a high-profile person to be prosecuted for corruption soon, a U.S. official told CBS News.

[r9119111]

"Corruption is the biggest enemy in Afghanistan. It's much, much bigger than the Taliban, it's much, much bigger than al Qaeda," a senior official told CBS News.

cor·rup·tion

cor·rup·tion [k? rúpsh'n]
(plural cor·rup·tions)
n
1. dishonesty for personal gain: dishonest exploitation of power for personal gain
2. depravity: extreme immorality or depravity
3. undesirable change: an undesirable change in meaning or another error introduced into a text during copying
4. corrupting of something: the corrupting of something or somebody, or the state of being corrupt
5. linguistics altered word or phrase: a word or phrase that has been altered from its original form
6. rotting: rotting or putrefaction, or the state of being rotten or putrid (archaic)


[14th century. Via French < Latin corruption- < corruptus (see corrupt)]
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Can anyone ever expect politicians to be honest? I doubt it. We certainly have our own problems, haven't we? Not all, but most politicians are people who would sell their souls for money and power.

[ramos1129]

The Karzai administration will not and cannot even reduce corruption. Starting with Karzai himself, corruption is so ingrained that it cannot even be cut by even a small percentage. It can be disguised but will not be eliminated.

There is no help for it at the moment. Yet, again we are stuck supporting yet another inept and corrupt administration in the name of fighting terrorism.

If Obama makes it a prior condition that corruption be addressed in a meaningful way before more troops are sent, then none will be sent.

[BeckieBest]

The right wing nuts want us to "Rush" in and prop up this corrupt government.

Guess we shouldn't be surprised, they proped up Bush for 8 long years.

lol!

[us_1776]

Karzai IS the corruption. He was an installed puppet of Bush/Cheney and after being ignored for so long he finally decided to go rogue (the real kind - not like Sarah Palin). I do not see ANY avenue for success in Afghanistan as long as Karzai is in power. And I think the president sees the same thing. We would have to operate completely independent of the Karzai government which is properly the best strategy. Karzai cannot control anything anyhow, so just pretend he's not there.

[YourVeryWrong]

At least THAT part of the Afghan government is in step with the region.