Afghans pay up to $3 billion a year in bribes

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan

Afghan citizens collectively pay up to $3 billion a year in bribes, according to a study on corruption in the conflict-riven country revealed Thursday.

Corruption watchdog Integrity Watch Afghanistan's Executive Director Sayed Ikram Afzali said while sharing the findings in Kabul that the amount of bribes is much higher than the Afghan government official estimates.

He said the estimated $3 billion paid in bribes showed a sharp increase in the past year – almost 50 percent more than 2014 – and lamented that such high levels of corruption was eroding the public's trust in the government.

According to the study, an overwhelming majority of Afghans see corruption as a serious and growing problem. Afghans are also convinced corruption is having a negative effect on security, with more than half believing it fuels the Taliban-led insurgency.

Under international pressure, the Afghan government has tried to curb corruption, with President Ashraf Ghani personally chairing the committee that grants contracts in the public sector, while the legal system has been reshaped to process cases more swiftly, especially in relation to administrative corruption.

The IWA study indicates however that only just over half (52%) of respondents believed government has a sincere desire to fight corruption.

A day earlier, the Asia Foundation shared its annual “Survey of the Afghan People”, which said the national mood has been on a downward trajectory since 2013, with less than a third of Afghans interviewed saying the country is moving in the right direction – the lowest level of optimism since the survey began in 2004.

Abdullah Ahmadzai, the Asia Foundation’s Country Representative in Afghanistan said security, political and economic transitions had been unraveling since the end of NATO’s combat mission in 2014, and the survey suggests that more time is required for progress in these areas.