afghanistanthe 1980s when the cia and other foreign governments poured millions of
dollars into the coffers of mujahidin commanders. The billions of dollars
of foreign donors’ money made it easy for President Karzai to duck the
politically dangerous issue of raising taxes or calling ministers and other
powerful individuals to account for misappropriating state revenues.
Fifteen years after the intervention more than 70 per cent of the coun-
try’s national budget consisted of foreign aid and there is no prospect of
the country becoming financially self-sustaining in the medium term. 33
President Ashraf Ghani has recently attempted to address this issue, but
shopkeepers in Kabul went on strike when he raised taxes in 2016. Ghani
has been more successful in increasing revenues from the provinces and
customs duties, but even so the International Monetary Fund estimates the
government is running a current account deficit of $6.7 billion, equivalent
to 36.6 per cent of gdp. 34
The crisis of corruptionWhile many Afghans struggle to make ends meet, high-ranking govern-
ment officials have become wealthy beyond their wildest dreams, skimming
off large percentages from aid money, illegally annexing state land for
housing developments, and giving contracts for development projects to
for-profit aid agencies and companies set up by family members. Others
have been less subtle and made a great deal of money by accepting bribes,
nepotism or by threats and extortion. When it became evident that the usa
and its allies were not prepared to demand accountability, officials became
even more blatant and greedy. Well-connected individuals would regularly
fly to Dubai with suitcases stuffed full of dollars, while customs officials
stood by and did nothing. Belated calls by the United Nations and other
international actors to curb corruption were ignored by President Karzai,
until corruption became so much a part of government culture that it was
institutionalized. The cia did little to discourage this activity by allegedly
handing suitcases full of cash to President Karzai, which he used as a slush
fund to buy tribal loyalties.
In 2012 Mahmud Karzai, President Karzai’s elder brother, was impli-
cated in one of the most spectacular corruption scandals Afghanistan has
known to date. Following an independent audit of the New Kabul Bank’s
accounts it emerged that its directors, of which Mahmud Karzai was one,
had loaned each others’ families around 1 billion dollars of mostly American
tax payers’ money from funds designated to pay the salaries of security
personnel and civil servants. The money instead was spent on purchasing