Afghan police officers search cars entering Kabul. In response to calls from the international community to do more to fight graft, drugs and cronyism, officials in the government of President Hamid Karzai unveiled a special task force that will investigate graft by senior officials.
Graft everywhere in Afghanistan, UN finds (click here)
SYLVIA HUI
January 21, 2010LONDON: Half of all adults in Afghanistan paid at least one bribe to a public official over the course of a year, a report on the extraordinary depth of corruption there has found.
The United Nations research, published on Tuesday, found that Afghans paid nearly $US2.5 billion ($2.7 billion) in the 12- month period ending last northern autumn. This amounts to almost a quarter of the country's gross domestic product in bribes, used to cut through red tape or get help with poor service.
The average bribe was $US160, a hefty sum in a country with a per capita income of nearly $US500, said the report, which was based on interviews with thousands of people across Afghanistan.
Most of those surveyed said they could not expect a single public service without paying favours. Many felt it was ''normal'' to pay extra for services, better treatment or avoiding fines.
Bribes were requested and taken by politicians, prosecutors, tax officers - anyone with even the most modest level of power to yield, from the humblest clerk at the office in charge of driver's licences to the highest levels of government.
Most of the payments went to police, judges and other local officials, but Afghans were also asked to bribe teachers in public schools and doctors and nurses in government hospitals....Gates: India, Pakistan Have Stake in Afghan Success (click here)
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
Still, it’s critical that both countries maintain full transparency to allay each other’s suspicions, Gates told reporters following a meeting here with Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony. Gates appeared to discount the notion that India contribute troops to serve in Afghanistan.
“The kind of support – and extraordinary support – that India is providing in Afghanistan now is really ideal,” Gates said. “It is significant support,” about $1.3 billion for power, medicine, agriculture and education projects.
India is willing to do more, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna told Gates during meetings yesterday, a senior defense official who attended the sessions told reporters on background.
The offer, however, came with a caveat in light of sensitivities regarding neighboring Pakistan.
India will offer more assistance, but only “if ISAF, [the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan] and the United States think it would be helpful,” the official said Indian leaders told Gates.
“Let’s be honest with one another,” Gates told reporters today. “There are real suspicions in both India and Pakistan about what the other is doing in Afghanistan. And so I think each country focusing its efforts on development, on humanitarian assistant, perhaps in some limited areas of training – but with full transparency for each other in what they are doing – will allay these suspicions and frankly, create opportunities to provide bigger help for the Afghan government.”...
US Defense Chief Warns Al-Qaida Intends to Provoke India-Pakistan War (click title to entry - thank you)
Steve HermanNew Delhi
..."I think it's not unreasonable to assume that Indian patience would be limited were there to be further attacks," he said.
The November 2008 attack on India's commercial capital, blamed on Lashkar-e-Taiba, killed more than 160 people.
Gates was asked by reporters whether the United States favors India sending troops to Afghanistan to assist the multi-national coalition battling insurgents there.
"Let's be honest with one another here. There are real suspicions in both India and Pakistan about what the other is doing in Afghanistan," he said.
Gates is requesting both New Delhi and Islamabad to be "fully transparent" with each other about their activities in Afghanistan to allay suspicions, adding they should focus on development aid, humanitarian assistance and training in limited areas....
