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Afghan armed forces accused of corruption as violence continues

The site of a deadly bomb blast in Kabul that killed 150 and injured over 300 others on May 31, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Terrorist attacks and militancy continue to take their toll on the civilian population in Afghanistan, while the country’s security forces have been accused of being deeply embroiled in corruption and neglect of duty.

As Afghanistan mourns hundreds of victims of Wednesday's blast in Kabul, the deadliest attack since 2001 US-led invasion of the country, Afghan protesters have been staging violent protests on the streets of the capital city, demanding the resignation of President Ashraf Ghani and top security officials over their failure to ensure security in the country.

Afghan police and military officials have been accused of sweeping corruption charges, including theft of money and weapons, lack of transparency in use of allocated resources, cooperation with heroin and opium cartels and myriads of forms of neglect of duty.

Afghan security forces also face a horrifying prospect if they get injured in the battlefield, as they may receive no proper treatment at military hospitals.

A 2011 report by Wall Street Journal revealed “Auschwitz-like” conditions at Afghanistan's main military hospital in Kabul, Dawood National Military Hospital, where injured soldiers were routinely starving to death and dying of minor infections.

According to the report, although the hospital was very-well funded by international donors, some corrupt doctors and nurses demanded bribes for food and the most basic of care.

Meanwhile, the Afghan government’s apparent push to fight corruption within the police and armed forces constantly meets deadlock as many officials appointed to tackle graft end up being fraudulent themselves.  

Afghan demonstrators set a fire during a protest against ongoing insecurity in Kabul, Afghanistan on June 2, 2017. (Photo by Reuters)

In March, General Moein Faqir, who was appointed by the country’s president to clean up corruption in war-torn Helmand Province, was himself arrested over extensive corruption charges, including misuse of food money meant to supply his soldiers, a year after he took the position.

Faqir was appointed to the position following the “ghost soldiers” scandal, in which over 40 percent of the 215th Corps of the Afghan National Army in Helmand Province were said to exist only on paper so corrupt officials could receive the extra budget.

Helmand is Afghanistan’s most violent province, where Taliban militants now dominate 12 of 14 districts, and the producer of most of Afghanistan’s heroin.

The former provincial police chief in Helmand, Abdul Rahman Sarjang, is also under investigation for allegedly selling the posts of district chiefs of police in the province.

According to local sources in Helmand, corrupt officials have also been selling weapons and even government buildings, funded by international donors, to the Taliban.

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Transparency International has consistently rated Afghanistan as one of the world’s most corrupt countries, along with Somalia and North Korea, estimating that an eighth of all the money that goes to the country is lost to corruption.

While Taliban militants traditionally increase attacks on security forces in spring time, police forces in the volatile southern areas have not received salaries for months.  

The key Taliban heartlands of Helmand and Kandahar, as well as neighboring Uruzgan and Zabul, traditionally witness some of the heaviest terror attacks in Taliban’s spring offensive.

International observers have warned that the delayed payments coupled with corruption and weak leadership from commanders have undermined the morale of police and soldiers to fight the insurgency in Afghanistan.

In 2016, Taliban effortlessly entered Tarin Kot, capital of Uruzgan, after demoralized police forces abandoned dozens of checkpoints without a fight following a dispute between rival police commanders.

On Monday, an Afghan police officer in Chaparhar, where the poppy fields reach into the district center, told Reuters that the Afghan forces have lost morale, as they have realized that they are fighting in favor of criminals and insurgents not against them.

"We are not fighting for the nation, we are fighting for a mafia… We arrest some insurgents during an operation and soon we get a call from powerful figures inside government to let them go. They (Afghan forces) believe that this is a fight for no reason," the officer, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said.

According to estimates, the government in Kabul controls less than 60 percent of the country while militants, mainly from the Taliban, either control or contest the rest.

Afghanistan has been gripped by insecurity since the United States and its allies invaded the country as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror in 2001, but many parts of the country remain plagued by militancy despite the presence of foreign troops.

In addition, the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, which is mainly active in Syria and Iraq, has recently managed to take recruits from Afghan Taliban defectors.


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