Hamid Karzai won the 2004 Afghan presidential election with 55.4% of the votes in an apparently free and open process. When he ran for re-election in August of 2009, however, the vote was characterized by a widespread lack of security, low voter turnout, and extensive allegations of electoral fraud. Under strong coalition pressure, a run-off election between Karzai and his opponent Abdullah was planned for November 7, 2009, but Abdullah announced that he would not participate because his demands for change had not been met, and an honest election would be impossible. The next day Karzai was declared President of Afghanistan for five more years, even as he vowed that "individuals who are involved in corruption will have no place in the government."

 

Unfortunately, the Afghan government remains one of the most corrupt in the world. The Ministries of Interior, Education, and Health are rife with corruption, because they manage a significant portion of the assistance funds coming into the country. A January 2010 report published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC) revealed that 60% of the population considers corruption as Afghanistan's greatest challenge and that bribes consume 23 percent of the nation's Gross Domestic Product. 50% of Afghans report having to pay more than a third of their annual income in bribes to such government officials as police, judges, doctors, and educators to receive basic government services. 

 

Such rampant corruption has eroded trust in the Afghan government, hindered economic development by deterring private or foreign investment, and weakened security, education, and health care by putting scarce funds in the pockets of corrupt officials rather than police training, medical supplies or teacher salaries.  Even more important, however, is that a corrupt and ineffective government bolsters the appeal of the Taliban for poor rural Afghans, and thus strengthens the insurgency. Eradicating corruption in Afghanistan therefore is a key to defeating the Taliban, and ISAF, UNDOC, USAID, and many others are working with the Afghan government to end this scourge