14 Nov 2011

Afghan Government Lax on Corruption Investigations

Afghan President Hamid Karzai (pictured here) has publicly committed to fighting corruption in the country, but data on corruption investigations during his government put the credibility of his pledge into question. Since the creation of an anti-corruption task force in 2009, 2,000 investigations have begun, but no high-level government official has been prosecuted on corruption charges so far.

The recent closing of an important bribery investigation against Abu Bakr, former governor of Kapisa province and very influential politician, reinforces the perception that the Afghan government is not doing as much as it should to curb graft. According to a senior US official, two prosecutors involved in the investigation against Mr. Bakr have been demoted or transferred to remote locations.

Read the full article Afghanistan obstructs graft probes on hosted.ap.org. The picture of Mr. Karzai shown above is from guardian.co.uk and is credited to Shah Marai, AFP and Getty Images.