Routinely, noted Dharmavarapu, "police officers extort goods from shopkeepers, levy taxes on vehicles at highway checkpoints, and impose fines on individuals unable to produce proper identification documents."
"The great challenge to Afghanistan's future isn't the Taliban, or the Pakistani safe havens or even an incipiently hostile Pakistan," Gen. John R. Allen told a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee in 2014.
[13][14][15] The Center for American Progress has attributed corruption in Afghanistan to decades of conflict that have prevented the formation of effective state institutions and civil society groups, to laws and regulations that are poorly enforced, to anti-corruption agencies that often contradict one another and lack resources, and to the fact that soldiers and police are often illiterate and public employees often underpaid and undertrained.
[8] Afghanistan's official institutions are riddled with incompetence, compelling rural folk to "rely on networks of regional and local power-holders to maintain order and provide basic services.
This resulted in several high-profile scandals, notably the Kabul Bank crisis in which revelations were made that the largest financial institution in the country had been operating as a Ponzi scheme at the benefit of the elite few tied to Karzai.
Also, because large amounts of official resources were diverted to the post-war rebuilding effort, many government workers found themselves severely underpaid and felt obliged to take bribes in order to survive.
[5] Afghans have identified over 70 types of corruption that affect them personally, "ranging from public administration and elected bodies to private sector, international aid, and the Taliban."
[5] A SIGAR report stated that senior officials at the Ministry of Education had intentionally falsified data on the number of schools and teachers in the nation in order to over-bill international aid providers.
[23] Outside observers have noted that the Afghan people view what Westerners consider "favoritism" or "nepotism" as the right thing to do, since they believe themselves to be taking care of their extended family.
"From granting judicial access and selecting the deposition of cases to extorting money from defendants for favorable decisions, corrupt justices are able to line their pockets with hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes."
[27] Reuters reported in August 2011 that "an expanding dossier of unresolved police violence and corruption cases ... have alienated Afghans," and that this called into question the feasibility of rebuilding the civic institutions of the war-torn nation.
[35] In July 2013, Joel Brinkley wrote in The Baltimore Sun that Karzai's government was attempting to levy a US$1,000 customs fee on every U.S. vehicle operating in a non-combat role in and out of the country, and that Afghan troops had been blocking roads in expectation of payment.
[39] In 2013, Gen. John R. Allen, who at the time was in charge of international forces in Afghanistan, told President Obama that corruption is the greatest strategic and existential threat to the fledgling Afghan nation.
Also, corruption has severely debilitated the nation's military and police and interrupted the supply of government services, foreign aid, and investment to those who need it, thus fueling the insurgency.
[8] "Throughout the past 13 years," wrote Haroun Mir on June 24, 2015, "high levels of corruption and bad governance have seriously thwarted the international community's efforts to stabilize Afghanistan.
One source notes, however, that "in reality, the Afghans that currently run the country do not want to see the pipeline of money that flows from the donor nations to their Swiss or Dubai bank accounts interrupted.
One challenge to its work is that "only 9% of Afghan homes own a computer and only one third of citizens understand basic governmental administrative procedures, making reporting bribes exceptionally difficult."
A study found that it "was greatly understaffed, lacked experienced employees, suffered from in inadequate operational capacity and failed to meet international standards of independence from the rest of government as an oversight institution."
Rep. John F. Tierney of the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee expressed concern that the contracts lacked transparency and accountability ensuring any U.S. dollars are not being syphoned to corrupt officials, insurgents, the Taliban, drug traffickers, or anyone else considered the enemy.
[43] A 2013 SIGAR report accused Afghanistan's Attorney General's Office of lacking "the political will to prosecute high-level, corrupt officials" and said that an "atmosphere of paranoia prevails" in the country.
[44] In a 2010 article in The New York Times, in which he referred to Afghanistan as "Corrupt-istan," Dexter Filkins cited the case of Fazel Ahmad Faqiryar, who had been fired as deputy attorney general for attempting to prosecute senior members of Karzai's cabinet.
NATO had in fact provided evidence a year earlier that Yaftali had stolen medical drugs from Afghanistan's largest military hospital, which he was in charge of, totaling in the millions of dollars.
"[8] In December 2014, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani dismissed the heads of the attorney's office, the oil, power, and customs departments and the director of education in Herat province.
While eliminating corruption in Afghanistan is no simple task, Goodman and Sutton stated in March 2015 "it could be significantly reduced, and even modest improvements in public accountability will substantially enhance the legitimacy of the new government.
He said commanders in the field had told him "corruption is more serious in Afghanistan than the insurgency" and explained that "the patronage system and the failure to prosecute people guilty of gross fraud and abuse is undermining the Afghan economy and putting future development efforts at risk.
[54] Ferozi and Farnood curried favor with President Karzai's family, whereupon the Afghan government put Kabul Bank in charge of the payroll accounts for all of the nation's civil servants, soldiers, and police officers.
Yama Torabi, a member of Afghanistan's anti-corruption committee, said that these developments perpetuated a culture of kleptocracy and signaled that any official can loot the Afghan budget, while anyone can invest with no questions asked.
[53] A 2013 report by the Daily Beast stated that Mahkdoom Raheen, formerly a democracy-supporting professor who became Minister of Information and Culture under Karzai, a close friend, had engaged in massive corruption.
A former senior culture ministry official, Zia Bumia, questioned how grand corruption is by ministers connected to warlords and drug lords when an academic is embezzling funds.
[53] On January 30, 2013, The New York Times reported that a move by the US military to blacklist an Afghan airline, Kam Air, because of accusations of drug smuggling had caused diplomatic pressure with a Karzai spokesman, Aimal Faizi, demanding evidence of guilt.