According to the Center for Public Integrity – a nonprofit investigative news outlet – senior military officers have filed a report with the Joint Chiefs walking through some of the Pentagon’s mistakes in Afghanistan. One important takeaway from the report is that corruption by public officials was a problem even at the start of the US’ presence in Afghanistan, and was made worse by American willingness to pour money into the nation without proper oversight. “Corruption alienates key elements of the population, discredits the government and security forces, undermines international support, subverts state functions and rule of law, robs the state of revenue, and creates barriers to economic growth,” the report stated. By the end of its study, the military came away with a few important conclusions, noting that the US embrace of Afghan warlords at the start of the war helped keep in place a corrupt leadership force. “The US’ initial support of warlords, reliance on logistics contracting, and the deluge of military and aid spending which overwhelmed the absorptive capacity of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) created an environment that fostered corruption and impeded later [anti-corruption] efforts,” the report reads. rt/usa/157444-afghan-corruption-report-pentagon/
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 14:33:35 +0000