It seems ironic that while Americans appear to be supporting the democratic uprisings that are taking root across the Middle East, the U.S. government is at the same time spending billions of dollars funding the corrupt regime of Afghanistan. Although, as I mentioned in one of my previous blog posts, it does not seem likely for a rebellion to develop in Afghanistan, that is not reason to continue to put so much money into an administration that has been heading south for a while.
In fact, the news of Kabul Bank needing a bailout is only further proof of the corruption that seems to be running rampant in the Afghani government (see previous post). This past fall, Transparency International rated Afghanistan as the second most corrupt nation in the world, due to the Karzai administration. And with prominent government officials pocketing the Afghan peoples’ money, it does not take much more to make the Afghanis distrust and dislike their own government. As America continues to support this administration, it will only incite further aversion to American troops and involvement in the government and affairs of Afghanistan.
It does not seem wise to allow the Karzai administration to continue on as they have been, because in addition to being corrupt, they have also proven ineffective against the Taliban insurgencies on numerous occasions. Moving forward, I think that it is necessary to have certain monetary indiscretions investigated by the International Monetary Fund, which I believe is supposed to happen. However, beyond these investigations I think that the government of Afghanistan needs to undergo some serious changes. Perhaps it would also be wise to have countries other than the U.S. involved in the process of readjusting the government of Afghanistan in order to minimize (or neutralize) any bias.
Although the Karzai administration is not as severe as the Taliban, many groups of people still feel oppressed in their country and the government has done little or nothing to help its people in these regards. Women and people of the small ethnic minorities either feel that they do not have a voice or that violence or prejudice is continually directed towards them. It seems only natural, especially in the wake of numerous democratic revolutions, to reform the Afghan government to make these people feel safe and protected and heard. Failure to make any changes now could lead to more explosive and more drastic changes later on.
Link to Picture: Afghan Corruption
Link to Article on the same topic: The $110 Billion Question
Fatima, I would love to know more about these people who feel voiceless. Where are they? In what way are they marginalized? Economically? Ethnically?
ReplyDeleteAlso, this comparison to Afghanistan and some of the other uprisings going on in the Middle East is an interesting one. Just how far can you take this? I would love to see a blog post comparing Afghanistan to, say, Egypt, Libya or Yemen.