Thread: Al Jazeera English: VIDEO: Afghanistan's burden of corruption

What else is new, is what I thought after reading this article on AJE.

check it out.

tHE video is only about 2 1/2 mins. in length.

The US government is stepping up pressure on Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, to crack down on corruption.

Analysts say the issue affects every aspect of official life in Afghanistan.

From petty bribes to grand-scale fraud and extortion, corruption is thought to account for billions of disappearing dollars each year - so what can really be done to stop it?

Weak laws and low pay for those who are able to prevent bribary are just some of the reasons why corruption abounds.

But you know, I personally can see this in happening.

For one thing, it's a relatively undeveloped country, yes??

Secondly, it's well known that Hamad Karzai is only in control of the capital city and maybe one or 2 other larger centers in Afghanistan. The rest is controlled by the tribal chiefs.

So if the tribal chiefs control the majority of the country, aside from the Taliban groups, can you see this happening now??

Here's an example:

there isn't really all that much infrastructure in place for a legal system in which judges can't be bribed, police officers can't be bought to look the other way when each of those don't really make enough money to NOT be bought.


Here's the link:

Al Jazeera English - CENTRAL/S. ASIA - Afghanistan's burden of corruption

i think that corruption evolves with the development of a country.

Take for example financial or corporate corruption as opposed to paying off a police man in some second or third world country, so that one could avoid going to jail or being questioned b/c he doesn't have any identity papers.

China is an example.

In some parts of that country ( I don't know about the whole country), you could pay off a Chinese police officer, so that you could go to some place in which, generally westerners aren't allowed to go.

Take for example Tibet.

A person who wanted to go there via some back road, encountered a cop, paid him off so that you could go there and he'd be happily on his way with some of your bribe money while you go off on your own way.

So the fox may change it's skin but not it's character is true.

One's character also has a lot to say about corruption issues. When a person is in an environment that has a lot of corruption, then the possibility for corruption to continue definitly exists.

However, the way one's mindset is also has an influence.

Personal integrity is also important.

A person doesn't want everybody else to know about how that same person could have his integrity questioned when he'd like it to remain strong and established.

In some cases, corruption just continues.
Take for example Mexico.

It's also well known that in some quarters of that country, corruption of government and even the police, continues.
Bribery is the call of the day for some.

Now I'm not saying that the whole of Mexico's police are corrupt. I'm just saying that in some quarters, it is.

It's the same here in North America.

There's the 'boys in blue' club. The police protect their own kind when one of their members is accused of harassment or police brutality or what-ever.

Even when a police department is investigated by an outside police department, that is itself a conflict of interest.

In it's mildest form, a form of corruption b/c it's just well known that cops protect themselves and each other from people making complaints against their members.

And it is unethical for police to be investigating themselves as such. How much transparency does really exist when it's an internal department or even another police department, investigates another??

Now that is just taking the police and using that as an example only.

there is of course corporate corruption and how it evolves as well. But that's a longer discussion.