Half of all Afghans paid bribes in 2012: UN report

Total cost of corruption increased to $3.9 billion in 2012 and 68% of surveyed consider it acceptable.


Afp February 07, 2013
Corruption on rise in Afghanistan:UN. PHOTO: FILE

KABUL: The cost of corruption in Afghanistan has risen sharply and half of all citizens paid a bribe to public officials last year, a new United Nations study said Thursday.

More than 11 years after a US-led invasion led to billions of dollars in aid flowing into one of the world's poorest countries, Afghanistan ranks among the most corrupt nations on earth.

And Western nations due to pull their troops out next year have linked future financial support to the aid-dependent nation to a crackdown on graft.

The report by the UN office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Afghanistan's anti-corruption unit says that while there has been "some tangible progress", the total cost of corruption increased to $3.9 billion in 2012 -- 40 percent up on 2009.

"The bribes that Afghan citizens paid in 2012 equals double Afghanistan's domestic revenue or one-fourth of the Tokyo pledge," the report says, referring to the $16 billion promised by donors at a conference in Japan last year.

"Nobody doubts the seriousness of the issue, the art is to design the correct strategy to remedy the situation," said UNODC regional representative Jean-Luc Lemahieu.

The report shows that corruption appears to be increasingly tolerated by ordinary people.

More than 68 percent of those surveyed considered it acceptable for a civil servant to top up a low salary by accepting small bribes -- up from 42 percent in 2009, the report noted.

And 67 percent considered it "sometimes acceptable" for a civil servant to be recruited on the basis of family ties and friendship networks -- also up from 42 percent four years ago.

While the cost of corruption had risen, the total number of people paying bribes had dropped from 58 percent in 2009 to 50 percent last year -- but they were paying more often.

The survey was based on a representative sample of 6,700 citizens interviewed across the country.

President Hamid Karzai in December blamed foreigners for most of the corruption in Afghanistan and said the withdrawal of NATO troops in 2014 would help rid the country of graft.

The Afghan government has previously pointed the finger at the contract systems of the international community for spreading corruption, although it admits graft is rife within its own ranks.

COMMENTS (5)

Rex Minor | 11 years ago | Reply

The Imperialists have always a weapon to degrade other Nations. UNO is the base to make satanic pronouncements to denegrade the peoples of the developing countries. Watch the Lobbyists outside the European parliaments, and the Washington congress centres how they are distributing the references for solicing Yes or No for various legislations. How much campaign contributions were made to the Presidential candidates in the last USA elections. And how do the lobbyists get a pay back when their candidate wins. Winsto Churchi never paid for holidaying on Yahts of Millionaires. mr zarkosi regularly picked up white envelopes with bank notes during his regular visits to the house of the richest woman in France. And the UNO talks about the 'bimbies ' which Afghans get?

Rex Minor

Sterry | 11 years ago | Reply

@Shaami: Perhaps you don't know that corruption in Afghanistan far exceeds anything in Pakistan. Pakistanis may complain about corruption but in Afghanistan it is accepted and no one complains about it - that is the difference. Not only is it a common thing practiced by Afghans in their own country but also in Western countries.

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