How Corruption Led to the Fall of the Afghan Republic

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan collapsed on August 15, 2021, after two decades of demonstrating its power. The reasons for this collapse were multifaceted and included internal and external dimensions. Internal factors that contributed to the collapse of the Republic included political, social, economic, cultural, and military issues, corruption, and the Twenty Years’ War. This article focuses on the role of corruption in the downfall of the Republic. According to Ibn Khaldun, political, administrative, and moral corruption are fundamental factors that lead to the collapse of states. During the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, various forms of political, administrative, and moral corruption were present in military and civilian institutions. This article examines and analyzes the following three components:

Political corruption: During the twenty years of the Republic, extensive electoral fraud took place in presidential, parliamentary and provincial council elections. Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani were declared winners of the presidential elections due to orchestrated fraud by domestic and foreign actors. It is said that Mohammad Ashraf Ghani seized power from his electoral rival Abdullah Abdullah due to pressure and threats from the Americans. In an interview with BBC Persian, Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta, a former Afghan foreign minister, said: “I saw Zalmay Khalilzad threatening Dr. Abdullah Abdullah’s election team to accept the election results in favor of Ashraf Ghani.” This undermined public confidence in the electoral process and distanced them from the government.

Furthermore, appointments to middle and high government positions were not based on merit, but on connections related to ethnic, linguistic, group and geographical affiliations. Moreover, the role of the fifth column as a destructive element within the Afghan government was significant. Members of the fifth column entered the government through political corruption. These two recent factors are also considered as important causes of the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from the perspective of political corruption.

Administrative corruption: After the Bonn Conference and the establishment of the Republic of Afghanistan, billions of dollars in humanitarian aid flowed from all over the world for post-war reconstruction. The lack of proper management of these funds provided an opportunity for government officials to accumulate wealth. Foreigners, with their vast sums of money, bought tribal chiefs, political leaders and those they brought from Western countries to secure their interests and carry out their plans. Subsequently, bribery and corruption spread throughout all levels of the newly established Afghan government, leading to widespread corruption among government employees. Corruption existed from top to bottom and was seen as a termite destroying the state. The leadership’s symbolic fight against corruption was ineffective because the government itself was deeply entrenched in corruption. According to Transparency International’s 2018 annual report, Afghanistan ranked fourth in terms of administrative corruption, after Somalia, South Sudan and Syria. According to an OCCRP report in 2021, Ashraf Ghani was named as one of the world’s most corrupt people of the year. Moreover, the Afghan government leadership was deeply mired in corruption and was often not focused on serving the country or preserving the state. Meanwhile, a few individuals who genuinely worked for the country and the survival of the state were marginalized by the mafia groups within the system. Ashraf Ghani appointed Ajmal Ahmadi, a relative, as the head of the Afghan Central Bank. Despite not being proficient in Persian or Pashto and not having parliamentary approval, Ghani kept him in his post until the last day of the fall of the Afghan government. The Afghan parliament had accused the head of the Afghan Central Bank of transferring millions of dollars abroad in collaboration with Ashraf Ghani’s political allies, including Hamdullah Mohib, Fazl Mahmood Fazli, Abdul Salam Rahimi, Hanif Atmar and others. There are claims that he is a Lebanese citizen but has been given a false identity from Ghazni province in Afghanistan.

Corruption in the legal and judicial sector: The legal and judicial sectors were also plagued by corruption, which called into question the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Financial and administrative corruption, personal and group ties, political and mafia pressure, nepotism, and tribal affiliations played a decisive role in the fate of cases involving these institutions. Such practices led to distrust and resentment among citizens towards the government. In contrast, opponents of the Afghan government used the existence of corruption in government institutions as a powerful propaganda tool against the Republic. Many judges, prosecutors, and defense lawyers, despite receiving large monthly salaries from the government, engaged in extensive corruption, even releasing dangerous prisoners in exchange for bribes and maintaining connections.

Corruption in logistics contracts: Logistics contracts for the armed forces were often awarded to individuals close to senior officials and the president. Contractors committed fraud in the quality, weight, and quantity of goods delivered to the security forces. Soldiers often complained about this problem, but government officials did not pay serious attention to it. There were also reports of the sale of weapons, ammunition, and military equipment, and of soldiers being trafficked by some of their commanders. Some senior commanders created lists of fictitious soldiers and obtained their salaries from mafia networks within the government. At times, soldiers experienced difficulties obtaining food and drinking water at their posts and used social media and the press to attract the attention of government leaders. Soldiers and lower-ranking officers were aware of corruption among political and military leaders, which diminished their loyalty to the government.

Additional corruption issues: Other corruption issues included the Kabul Bank scandal, state land grabbing, taxes on mobile phone credit cards, extortion by commanders and influential local figures, political injustice, etc. These forms of corruption also contributed to the weakening of the government.

Moral corruption: Corruption was not only political and administrative, but also moral towards the end of the Republic. Even within the presidential palace, moral corruption reached its peak. General Habibullah Ahmadzai, a senior security adviser to Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, stated: “Fazl Mahmood Fazli, the head of the presidential office, and some of his close associates in the presidential palace engaged in moral corruption. Fazli ensured that women won parliamentary elections in exchange for sexual favors and took money from men to help them enter parliament. Others in the palace systematically promoted immorality.” This claim was confirmed by Mariam Wardak, another former adviser to Ashraf Ghani, who was angry about the issue. Former Afghan Minister of Mines, Petroleum and Industry Narges Nehan also confirmed the issue of moral misconduct within the presidential palace, stating: “A group of us women discussed the issue of moral corruption with Ashraf Ghani, but he took no action.” Therefore, moral corruption exists in government institutions. Some women faced serious problems and various forms of harassment. Although this problem was prevalent in large cities, it was less reported in some districts and villages. Although the extent of moral corruption may not have been so great, these problems became propaganda material for the opponents of the government when they were reported in the media. Given the strong reaction of the religious and traditional society of Afghanistan to such problems, this led to rural and religious school communities joining the opposition against the Republic. It should be noted that no society in history has been free from moral corruption, and it never will be. However, the extent of it varies from human society to human society. Interestingly, Afghan men suffer from severe sexual deprivation due to social, cultural and marriage restrictions. Even those who react against the illicit relationships of others do not refrain from such acts if given the opportunity.

In summary, political, administrative and moral corruption within the institutions of the Republic led to the paralysis of the state apparatus. This made it very effective for the opponents of the Republic to mobilize public opinion against it. Corruption was indeed the termite that destroyed the state from within.

You can read the Persian version of this article here:

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