By Steve Hynd
Afghan journalist Nushin Arbabzadah has a piece in the Guardian today looking at the industry of corruption that the Afghanistan occupation has become. She shows that, for Afghans, the West's involvement is simply seen as part of that machinery of corruption and that the corrupt, enriched elite the West has supported are both mostly insulated from, and a primary cause of, the troubles of the rest of their country.
It's a must-read article I could easily excerpt huge chunks from. But I'll content myself with this Quote of the Day:
As local wisdom has it, there are three types of people in Afghanistan today: al-Qaida (the fighters), al-faida (the enriched) and al-gaida (the fucked).
I make this comment also on the Guardian article since I see it as an important distinction.
ReplyDeleteIt is a good article although one that perhaps falls into the same trap many Afghans do, the understanding of who is ultimately paying the bills.
I am one of the international problems solvers engaged in Afghanistan who requires a bevy of international and national security types to ensure I can go about my business of solving those problems.
Where I see a difference is that I am not being paid for what I do by the Afghan government nor the Afghan people to solve these problem. At this moment I am being paid for by the American people and the money that I am in charge of spending is supplied by the American government.
The people who receive the benefit of all of that are in fact the Afghan people. There are plenty of local people who would put their hands up to assist in allocating how that money is spent. Many are in the local government, and much of it would be directed to the things they direct funds towards now when they get the chance, themselves. Most of my task in being a problem solver is to ensure that most of it is spent with a minimum of corruption involved and even then I am unable to stop it all, perhaps 80% is a reasonable target.
Afghans have to appreciate that the funds coming in to the country are not a god given right, they are provided by international governments as a gift.