Afghanistan’s Biggest Obstacle is Its Government

by | Nov 6, 2017

Afghanistan’s Biggest Obstacle is Its Government

by | Nov 6, 2017

During his unannounced visit to Afghanistan earlier this month, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered misguided praise for the Afghan government as he reaffirmed the U.S. commitment there. He lauded the country for having “come quite a distance already in terms of creating … a much more vibrant government.” Unfortunately, the Afghan government is far from vibrant. More to the point, it is horribly corrupt, incompetent, and illiberal.

Instead of offering praise, Americans should be asking why their government continues to support such a dreadful regime. More importantly, why should Afghans support their own government? And without Afghans offering increasing support to their government, the “longest war” will likely only get longer.

Far from fair and judicious, the Afghan government enables its officials to get away with nearly anything. Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index assesses the Afghan government as more corrupt than 96 percent of all governments in the international system. Understandably, Secretary Tillerson shared U.S. concerns about corruption during his recent meeting with the Afghan president, concerns that previous administrations frequently raised in the past and had ignored.

All of that corruption sounds a lot like what I saw when I served as the military commander of a provincial reconstruction team working with Afghan government officials in 2010.

Read the rest at the Orange County Register.

Our Books

Shop books published by the Libertarian Institute.

libetarian institute longsleeve shirt

Our Books

cb0cb1ef 3fcb 417d 80d8 4eef7bbd8290

Recent Articles

Recent

The Gulf States ‘Harsh Enlightenment’

The Gulf States ‘Harsh Enlightenment’

On March 20 of this year, Maria Kovalchuk, a twenty-year old Ukrainian model, influencer, OnlyFans content creator, and antiwar activist was found lying on the side of a road in Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates, after going missing from a party...

read more

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This