Afghan soldiers with seized opium/AP Photo/Maya Alleruzo
Days after U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry's doubts about the Afghan government were leaked to the press, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement demanding establishment of an anti-corruption court in Kabul. According to the BBC , Clinton told ABC News that "now that the [Afghan] election is over, we're looking for tangible evidence that the government, led by the president but going all the way down to the local level, will be responsive to the needs of the people." She added that the United States wants "an anti-corruption commission established an functioning."
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly emphasized his commitment to tough anti-corruption measures, though little progress has been made on the issue. Karzai himself only narrowly avoided a run-off election precipitated by voter fraud in Afghanistan's October election when his opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, dropped out of the running. Abdullah abandoned the election after claiming it would be impossible for him to have a fair chance of winning.
Most corruption in Afghanistan is related to opium cultivation. Due to its extraordinary lack of security, Afghanistan is presently the world's largest grower of opium poppies. In September, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released its 2009 Afghanistan Opium survey, which found that some 6,900 tons of opium were produced in Afghanistan in 2008 - an amount worth some $3.4 billion on the export market. For perspective, the UNODC report listed Afghanistan's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at $10.7 billion.
While most Afghan farmers cultivate opium to combat the country's extreme poverty (the average opium farmer's gross income was $1,786 in 2009, compared to Afghanistan's $426 GDP per capita), the UNODC survey reported that Afghan insurgents are increasingly turning to opium production and distribution as a source of income. Previously, they had merely "taxed" opium farmers.
UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa identifies an anti-trafficking, anti-corruption strategy in his summary findings, under the heading: "Eradicate poverty, not just poppies." Costa argues that "[i]n post-election Afghanistan, the rural development push must be as robust as the current military offensive [...] Infrastructures, storage facilities and access to markets can help them market their (licit) crops. This has happened, but in a fragmented way."
Thus, the Afghan and U.S. governments' battle against corruption is, as much as anything else, a battle against opium. The battle against opium, meanwhile, like the battle against the Taliban, is as much a battle against poverty as militant Islamic fundamentalism
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