Corruption is Eating Through Afghan Society, Candidate Says

Ashraf Ghani, an independent candidate in August's presidential election in Afghanistan, told CBS News' Bob Schieffer on "Washington Unplugged" Thursday that "corruption is a cancer that is eating through the fabric of Afghan society" - and the reason he decided to run against President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah.

He noted that Afghanistan has dropped significantly in international rankings for transparency in the last several years. "The scale of deterioration," he said, "has been unprecedented."

Ghani argued that international corruption is partly responsible for the sorry shape of the Afghan legislature, adding that narcotics also play a role. He said the skyrocketing price of land in Afghanistan has bred greed.

"Believe it or not, housing prices in Kabul' in 2009 are "higher than the Washington area or Virginia and Maryland," he said.

Schieffer asked about the decision to have a runoff election to determine a winner from the diputed summer presidential elections.

"It is a good thing because the population was terrified about uncertainty. There were threats of violence,' said Ghani. "This at least brings it back to the ballots because the fear of bullets dominating very strong."

The planned runoff election shows that "one cannot get away with impunity," Ghani added. "This redirects the energies to a political field and hopefully we can end up with something positive out of a process that was very flawed."

Watch the full interview above. The episode also includes an interview with reporter Mike Allen, who claims that the White House is trying to marginalize conservative critics, and a new installment of "Unplugged Under 40."

"Washington Unplugged" appears live on CBSNews.com each weekday at 12:30 p.m. ET. Click here to check out previous episodes.