Afghanistan corruption

17 Stories

CIA Giving Karzai Sacks of 'Ghost Money': Report

It's said to have added up to tens of millions

(Newser) - While some American officials complain about corruption in Afghanistan, the CIA has been smoothing its relationship with President Hamid Karzai's government by dropping off suitcases, backpacks, and even plastic bags full of cash at his office every month, the New York Times finds. The payments—described as "ghost...

Kabul Bank Honchos Punished for Fraud—Kind Of

Karzai brother conspicuously absent

(Newser) - An Afghan court convicted 21 people for their involvement in the Kabul Bank scandal today, a development that would have been nigh-unthinkable not long ago in the notoriously corrupt country, the New York Times reports. But independent observers say the sentences were surprisingly light given the severity of the fraud...

Indicted Afghan Banker Free, Playing Poker

He's exhibit A of Afghan corruption: New York Times

(Newser) - Sherkhan Farnood hosts an extraordinary poker game at his lavish Kabul home. The participants: Members of Hamid Karzai's inner circle. The stakes: Thousands of dollars, or more than most Afghan families make in a year. It's striking, because Farnood is supposed to be in jail and his assets...

US Suspects Afghan Air Force of Drug Running

Investigators say US-funded force has been ferrying illegal weapons, too

(Newser) - The US military and the DEA are both investigating the Afghan Air Force, over allegations that it has been using its aircraft—most of which were funded with US cash—to ferry narcotics and illegal weapons around the country, officials tell the Wall Street Journal . Senior AAF and Afghan government...

US Cracking Down on War Zone Corruption

Prosecutions for bribery, theft in Iraq and Afghanistan rising

(Newser) - American prosecutors have been making it a lot more difficult for people involved in reconstruction work in Iraq and Afghanistan to line their pockets and get away with it. Prosecutions for bribery, theft, and other crimes have risen sharply this year, according to two government reports. Those convicted include a...

$360M Lost to Insurgents, Criminals in Afghanistan

'Reverse money laundering' turned clean money dirty

(Newser) - While the US military has known for some time that a chunk of the money being spent in Afghanistan on logistics ends up in the hands of the Taliban and criminals , at last the military has an estimate of just how big those losses are—$360 million, according to a...

Mahmood Karzai, Brother of Afghan Prez, May Be Indicted in US
 US May Indict Karzai Brother 
Feb 16, 2011 4:25 AM CST

US May Indict Karzai Brother

Grand jury probing racketeering, extortion allegations

(Newser) - Mahmood Karzai, brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, has risen from running a few modest restaurants in the US to being one of Afghanistan's most prosperous businessman. Federal authorities, believing there was more than just a little shady dealing along the way, are seeking his indictment on racketeering, extortion, and...

Karzai Waxed Poetic About 'Golden Age' of Bush
Karzai Waxed Poetic
About 'Golden Age' of Bush
WIKILEAKS REVEAL
Dec 29, 2010 7:48 AM CST

Karzai Waxed Poetic About 'Golden Age' of Bush

US ambassador told Afghan president to worry about the present

(Newser) - The White House doesn't bring Hamid Karzai flowers anymore, and the Afghan president is caught in a diplomatic cable waxing poetically over "the golden age" of US-Afghan relations under George W Bush. The cable was sent by Ambassador Karl Eikenberry last year after a meeting with Karzai, reports the...

Afghanistan Is Even More Corrupt Than You Thought
Afghanistan Is Even More Corrupt Than You Thought
WikiLeaks Reveal
Dec 3, 2010 7:28 AM CST

Afghanistan Is Even More Corrupt Than You Thought

WikiLeaks' cables paint hopeless picture

(Newser) - WikiLeaks’ State Department cable dump paints an almost comically bleak picture of Afghan corruption. How bad is it? So bad that in January, the American Embassy noted that the agriculture minister “appears to be the only minister … about whom no allegations of bribery exist,” according to the...

Afghan Elections: A Corrupt 'Free-for-All'

Widespread fraud reported in nearly a third of provinces

(Newser) - From stuffing ballot boxes to arresting election workers to, incredibly, haggling over the sales price of a vote, Afghanistan's election is so rife with corruption and fraud that the results are questionable in one-third of its provinces, reports the New York Times. And as a test of Afghanistan's nascent democracy,...

Corrupt Karzai Aide Is on CIA Payroll

Official at center of corruption probe has fingers in many pies

(Newser) - The aide who Hamid Karzai intervened to free after his arrest on corruption charges has been on the CIA payroll for years, according to Afghan and US officials. It's not clear what exactly Mohammed Zia Salehi does to earn CIA cash, or whether the Afghan president knew he was an...

Karzai Moves to Curb Afghan Anti-Corruption Agencies

Afghan president accuses agencies of abusing suspects

(Newser) - Hamid Karzai is looking to curb the powers of two American-supported anti-corruption agencies operating in Afghanistan with a presidential decree, the New York Times reports. The Afghan president claimed that abuses by the Major Crimes Task Force and the Sensitive Investigations Unit—in particular, the arrest of a close adviser...

Karzai Blocking Corruption Probes: Officials

Prosecutors ordered to ignore evidence and suspects

(Newser) - Hamid Karzai’s top lieutenants have repeatedly thrown monkey wrenches into corruption allegations threatening Afghanistan’s politically-connected elite, US officials tell the Washington Post . Prosecutors have been ordered to disregard evidence, remove names from case files, and prevent senior officials from being arrested, the Americans allege. “Above a certain...

Afghanistan Cops Still Bumbling and Corrupt
 Afghanistan Cops Still 
 Bumbling and Corrupt 
$6 Billion and counting
Mar 20, 2010 11:20 AM CDT

Afghanistan Cops Still Bumbling and Corrupt

America's big investment isn't paying off: ProPublica

(Newser) - America's $6 billion investment to build an Afghan police force is summed up as a "disaster" in a joint report by ProPublica and Newsweek . Not only do Afghan cops remain the gang that couldn't shoot straight—literally—they're prone to selling guns and ammo to the Taliban to make...

Vastly Corrupt Afghan Cops Await US Trainers

Obama's plan to train cops faces tough challenge

(Newser) - The 4,000 troops President Obama is sending to train Afghanistan's police and army will run straight into a formidable wall of corruption that undermines national security at every turn, American soldiers tell the New York Times. Cops pilfer gas, judges take money, top officials profit from the drug trade,...

Outrageous Corruption, Bribery Rule Afghanistan

Obama may have to save government from itself

(Newser) - Before he can defend Afghanistan’s government from the Taliban, Barack Obama may need to save it from itself. Bribery and corruption are astonishingly pervasive in Afghanistan, Dexter Filkins reports in the New York Times. Everything from settling a lawsuit to getting electricity to entering an airport requires a bribe,...

Afghan Leader's Brother Tied to Drug Trade: US

Karzai denies claims, but Washington believes 'he's dirty'

(Newser) - The White House believes that the brother of Afghanistan’s US-backed president has ties to the country’s heroin trade, the New York Times reports. Hamid Karzai insists there is no firm proof against his brother, who calls himself a “victim of vicious politics.” But numerous reports from...

17 Stories