“MoI, Heart of Corruption in Security Institutions”

President Ashraf Ghani during the European Union’s 2017 anti-corruption campaign conference held in the Presidential Palace said the Ministry of Interior (MoI) is the heart of corruption in security institutions.

In his inaugural speech at the European Union’s third annual Anti-Corruption Conference in Kabul, Ghani acknowledged having wasted billions of dollars in fighting corruption in Afghanistan.

President Ghani said, “in security sector, we are focusing more on the Ministry of Interior this year. MoI is the heart of corruption in security institutions. We will bring reforms to this ministry. Currently reforms are implementing in the Ministry of Defense.”

“Bad strategy is as much a contributor to corruption as the actions of the corrupt,” the Afghan president asserted. “more efforts were directed at fighting graft in the country than in the last 40 years.”

He added, “We introduced more reforms in security sectors, banking, government hiring system, and our income increased by 35 percent.”

The second vice-President, Sarwar Danish said the government had many great achievements in reducing corruption in customs.

EU Special Representative in Afghanistan, Ambassador Franz-Michael Mellbin said at the conference that the international community is committed to Afghanistan’s anti-corruption fight.

Mellbin at the press conference that concludes the EU’s two-month long campaign to raise awareness and fight corruption in the country added, “From last year, until now, there have been more efforts to fight corruption.”

The campaign highlighted issues such as the illegal extraction of natural resources – the second-largest source of income for insurgents – along with the impact of corruption on the judicial system and security forces.

The Special Representative for United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto, during the inauguration of the conference at the Presidential Palace said, “The justice sector is Afghanistan’s most powerful weapon to fight corruption.”

Yamamoto added, “Demonstrating equal justice for all, including the highest ranking and the most powerful is a stark indication that the Anti-Corruption Justice Center and other courts are free from political influence.”

According to Afghanistan Transparency Watchdog, nearly 50 percent of Afghan people called corruption one of the serious challenges in the country.

Reported by Qiam Noori

Edited by Muhammad Zackarya