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US Voices Alarm at Level of Afghan Corruption
WASHINGTON - Top US military officer Admiral Mike Mullen expressed serious concern Wednesday over corruption in the Afghan government, warning President Hamid Karzai to crack down on offenders.
A torn election poster of Afghan President Hamid Karzai is seen in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009. Former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, Karzai's challenger in the recent presidential election said Wednesday that the current government cannot bring legitimacy to the troubled nation and will not be able to rein in corruption. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq) "We are extremely concerned about the level of corruption and the legitimacy of this government," Mullen told reporters. "It's far too much endemic."
Newly re-elected Karzai "has got to take significant steps to eliminate corruption," the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff warned.
"That means that you have to rid yourself of those who are corrupt, you have to actually arrest and prosecute them. You have to show those visible signs."
Mullen suggested sending additional US troops to Afghanistan would not make sense if the Kabul government failed to earn credibility.
"If we don't get a level of legitimacy and governance, then all the troops in the world aren't going to make any difference," he said.
The admiral's comments came as Obama weighs whether to order tens of thousands of reinforcements to Afghanistan as requested by his commander there, General Stanley McChrystal.
Obama has urged Karzai to take decisive action against corrupt officials and Mullen said it was crucial that government at both the local and national level better serve the Afghan people.
"You have to have a governance, not just in Kabul... but also in provinces, in districts," Mullen said, adding that "the legitimacy really needs to be in the eyes of the Afghan people."
Mullen added: "He (Karzai) has to take ownership for his own country."
Obama on Monday congratulated Karzai on his re-election but urged him to wipe out corruption.
The US administration has made little secret of its concerns with Karzai's alleged graft and his pacts with unsavoury warlords.
Having won office in a vote plagued by allegations of massive fraud, Karzai on Tuesday pledged to get to work to eradicate corruption.
Karzai's brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, head of the province of Kandahar, has been accused of having ties to Afghanistan's lucrative illegal opium trade.
Afghanistan is gripped by an increasingly violent Islamist insurgency despite the presence of more than 100,000 NATO-led troops, including 68,000 American forces.
Insurgent attacks have made 2009 the deadliest year for foreign troops -- as well as Afghan forces and civilians -- since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.
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Show AllA US military officer whose country is involved in the illegal invasion and occupation of two nations, whose intelligence service is renowned for corruption and drug trafficking, the supplying of armaments to Israel for use in genocidal conflict, and whose president has done nothing to end the destruction of human rights at home is saying the Afghan government has 'endemic corruption'?
Pot, Kettle. Kettle, Pot. Glad we could introduce you.
If you want to talk corruption and election fixing, what has the world suffered after the SCOTUS appointment of Corporate golden boy George W. Bush and his junta? What of the rampant buying of political influence in Washington, DC by the banks and their lobbyists? What of the complete disregard for the environment by the uS government regarding climate change and how it's destruction will affect future generations?
Galenwainwright sez: "Pot, Kettle. Kettle, Pot."
***
Aye that.
Something about lobbing stones from one's glass house also comes to mind.
Yep.
WASHINGTON - Top US military officer Admiral Mike Mullen expressed serious concern Wednesday over corruption in the Afghan government, warning President Hamid Karzai to crack down on offenders.
And I will sprinkle Fairy Dust on the Taliban and all will be well. I have more chance of succeeding than the sandbox fools running our government.
I have to remind the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs that it was the CIA and the military that put the opium War lords in power.... and they are used by US forces for their own security.
Of course, a general can't tell the whole truth, but I am sure he knows it well.
Well said. The USA has so much corruption that we export it wherever we can and call it "freedom". One of our "dons" is concerned about corruption? I can see that if the USA isn't getting a big enough cut.
Kazai is a creation o f the West just like Chalabi was in Iraq. The former came atop US battle tank and will eventually depart in someone’s helicopter to enjoy the rest of his life in Dubai or some other place outside of Afghanistan.
While corruption is rampant in Kazai's government, some of the major graft players in his original government like Fahim, Dostum and other war lords were imposed on his government by US/Nato by virtue of the fact that they helped the west to oust Taliban. Occupation by its nature breeds corruption because some, who on the surface may seem to be your allies, maybe working from the inside to defeat an occupation. The North Vietnamese were very adept at employing this strategy. So in the end Kazai will still remain a puppet just as he was at the beginning in 2001. As illiterate as most of Afghanis are, they pretty much understand that with or without fair elections, they will continue to be under the thumb of occupation
Ever since Kharzai came to power, he has been known as the 'Mayor of Kabul'.
He is an Afghan ex-pat who has a long history of employment with the oil company Unocal, and long suspected CIA asset in the region.
Imagine the alarm in Afghanistan at the level of American corruption!
EXACTLY
IMAGINE THE WORLD's ALARM for a LONG TIME NOW
at the CORRUPTION of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA.
its Federal Bank turns out to be the biggest Currency Manipulator of them all -- CORRUPT! HYPOCRITICAL.
its corporations can't even be bothered to answer for how they corrupted entire economies worldwide.
of one were to talk about CORRUPTION EMANATING like a really malodorous effluence from a MAIN SOURCE ..that's the USA.
The USA lead the corruption and directly encourage it. Makes me want to puke!
"That's what comes with freedom." - Donald Rumsfeld
Mullen sez: "That means that you have to rid yourself of those who are corrupt, you have to actually arrest and prosecute them."
***
Pehaps Karzai would rather "look forward" and "not focus on the past".
good one.
I just love the irony in the title of this Article.
"The US voices Alarm at the Level of Afghan Corruption"--
---- is that out of jealousy, envy, or resentment that they may just be on the same level as the corruption of the USA--
after all, when you are the dirtiest pig in the pen, you don't want any competition; especially from those you brought into the pen with you.
"If the USA were another nation the USA would invade the USA to keep the world safe; and they would be justified."
EXACTLY!!!!!!
Nice!
Afghans voice alarm at level of US corruption.
How great would it be if the U.S. military voiced concern over the corruption in the United States Government? Specifically the fact that the bankers that create money out of thin air and collect interest on that fake money, are behind these immoral and unjust wars perpetrated by the military!
How great would it be if the U.s. military voiced concern over the corruption in the U.S. military? Where is the $2.5 TRILLION that has been lost by the U.S. military? Where did that money go? What about the TRILLIONS of dollars given to private corporations to rip-off our military personnel around the world? $100 to wash a bag of laundry? How much is spent on meals served at the same times everyday so those people that want to kill Americans (because they killed their family) know when it is best to blow up the meal tent???? Rather than serving meals at all times, to make higher profits, they put lives at stake and only serve at specific times -- making the military personnel wait in lines for hours.
The U.S. voicing concern about anything is idiotic!
All these comments are RIGHT ON! Thank God there are, in fact, a whole bunch of intelligent Americans willing to speak out against the corrupt U.S. military, government, and bankers that control them. Best wishes to you all!
We're shocked, shocked! If only they could be more like us.
Isn't it great how the US can put a big clown face on world events? heheheh It'd be a whole lot funnier if we didn't have to pay for it.
THE USA is "alarmed at the level of Afghan Corruption?"
THE AFGHANS? corrupt ? o my my my....
wasn't it at other times:
"US Alarmed at the level of Chinese Corruption?"
"Russian Corruption?"
"latin American Corruption?"
"india Corruption?"
"asia Corruption?"
oh my my my
the LAND OF CORRUPTION where CORRUPTIOn is KING
is ALARMED at the "level of afghan corruption".
"THERE IS NO MONEY CORRUPTION THAT THE US ARMED FORCES ARE NOT BLIND TO...THEY HAVE THEIR FINGERS IN EVERY MONEY AND WAR SCHEME OF OUR BIG BOSS......OUR SUPERNATIONALISTIC CAPITALISM...OUR ARMED FORCES ARE THE BIG MUSCLE OF OUR BIG BRAINS - men who plan and instigate wars for profit....BIG BANKS and CoRPORATIONS , who fund them....POINTERS MEN...people who point to who should be destroyed...we are , you might say GANGSTERS for capitalism".......
CORRUPTION? oh my oy moy, o meee....
the BIGGEST CORRUPTION KETTLE is calling little afghanistan Pot Corrupt.......
QUESTION --
WHICH COUNTRY BRED and PROMOTED the BIGGEST CoRRUPTION SCANDALS IN HISTORY ?
the Great depression? that sent the world reeling INTO WORLD WAR 2?
The ":great recession" of 2007 to present that sent the world losing HUNDREDS of TRILLIONS of wealth away parked in some hedge funds? and BANKS?
it's the great UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
which ought to be called
UNITED CORRUPT states of America.
which FITS what BENJAMIN FRANKLIN OBSERVED - in the PRESENT TENSE from his own time about americaNS ALREADY :
":should this nation fall..it will not be because of foreign threats or enemies, real or imagined. it will be because the PEOPLE *ARE* CORRUPT" .
make note of that present tense...
"ARE" corrupt.
corruption in afghanistan? or elsewhere?
they PALE in comparison with the LEGAL corruption of the ENTITY called USA.
it's "STATEHOOD" is legal BUT CORRUPT -- created and obtained through genocide, enslavement, corrupt business practices, banking, and economics.
its WARS are the EPITOME of Money, Finance, Corporate, Economic, Banking, Philosophical, Intellectual, Lingual, LEgal and Spiritual Corruption
its CORPORATE culture is the height of Corruption leading the world to disastrous economics and pollution and destructive, harmful injustices everywhere you can look.
its POLITICAL life is so corrupt it is the laughing stock of even OTHER "corrupt" states
ITs Health care system is So corrupt - americans might as well WISH themselves a QUICK CANCER death to be free of the hassle of even existing.
good gracious!
do these american leaders and pundits and media and "intelligentsia" have ANY shame at all?
This should not come as a great surprise as the US propped up and supported the equally corrupt Diem government in the early 1960s in a place called Vietnam. This false posturing and concern by Mullen is a prime example of crocodile tears rolling down the cheeks of US officials as the ideal government in Afghanistan is one that the United States can control and exploit.
this article on CIA torture (link below)has an endorsing statement for us all, from former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray, who sheds further light on America's Afghan power grab:
(he)'alleged that in the late 1990s the Uzbek ambassador to the US met with then-Texas Governor George W. Bush to discuss a pipeline for the region, and out of that meeting came agreements that would see Texas-based Enron gain the rights to Uzbekistan's natural gas deposits, while oil company Unocal worked on developing the Trans-Afghanistan pipeline.'
"There are designs of this pipeline, and if you look at the deployment of US forces in Afghanistan, as against other NATO country forces in Afghanistan, you'll see that undoubtedly the US forces are positioned to guard the pipeline route. It's what it's about. It's about money, it's about oil, it's not about democracy."
http://rawstory.com/2009/11/ambassador-cia-people-tortured/
"Top US military officer Admiral Mike Mullen expressed serious concern Wednesday over corruption in the Afghan government, warning President Hamid Karzai to crack down on offenders."
I wonder if Admiral Mike Mullen is concerned over the corruption in the US government. Maybe he should warn President Hamid Karzai to crack down on offenders...and, yeah, I mean American offenders like say, Congress.
What idiotic clowns all these military assholes are!
Birds of a feather flock together.
Yeah, the U.S. has the kind of government in Kabul that it deserves.
I don't suppose that anyone has to be reminded what the history of our supporting this type of "strongman" has been in the past. It happened in Central America during Reagan's time and ended in defeat for the people that the US was supporting because the local population had had enough. It happened in Viet Nam. It happened in numerous countries in Africa. It happened in Pakistan. It happened in Cuba, Haiti, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay where we supported dictators whose central interests had nothing to do with their subjects' welfare and in each case they got ousted while the US had to stand by looking guilty. We don't win any friends that way.
The thing to do is make it clear to Karzai and his henchmen that we are leaving if things don't improve, and follow through when they inevitably don't improve. At the least it would be a good excuse to get the heck out of Afghanistan before we are forced out.
your comments are historically on point.
but the last paragraph is of course - assuming that the UNITED STATES actuallY CARES about corruption .
that's not the case at all.
this is all about the KIND of corruption that is PREFERED by the united states.
if Karzai were to behave by doling out favors to factions by which he persuades THEM to "switch sides" TO THE USA - that would be OK OK OK.
the real issue here for the USA - is not the corruption - after all the HALLIBURTON and other USA corporate corrupt practices are well-known - but that the corruption BUYS FAVOR FOR THE USA. this is nothing more than POSTURING by the POTUS and STATE DEPARTMENT and CONGRESS - pretending as IF the USA is so "clean" even if it's the world's most corrupt state.
it is so corrupt - it can't even mange its own economy without having to leer and lust after other countries AND THEN proceed with corrupt practices such as its wars.
talking about how the USA should "give an ultimatum to karzai to clean up his act or else we leave"
ISN"T the real story. the USA is the INSTIGATOR of corrupt practices and is full of it. it's a question of how it is packaged and WITH WHOM that benefit US interests. period.
"WAR is a RACKET...it is a racket for Big Money, Big Corporations, Big Finance. there is no MONEY CoRRUPTION that our Armed Forces are blind to...we are merely Racketeers for Capitalism".
in short - US FOREIGN POLICY EQUALS gargantuan CORRUPTION.
and the USA , its leaders, anyone really - shouldn't be casting aspersions about "corruption" elsewhere while SPREADING IT through the practice of WAR!
"OF ALL EVILS - war must be the most feared -for IN IT is contained ALL OTHER evils" --James Madison
INCLUDING Corruption.
so -- WHO STARTED these wars and meddling?
IT"S THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
conceived in Corruption, effected in corruption, Planeed in Corruption. and executed in corruption.
Mission Accomplished, eh?
When puppet president Hamid Karzai's unpopularity becomes such that he's of no value to American occupiers, will Prsident Barack Obama sign an enabling order for his assassination, as per President Kennedy's green-lighting the CIAs assassination of Vietnam's puppet President Ngo Digh Diem 45 years ago?
US Voices Alarm at Level of Afghan Corruption.
That is rich coming as it does from a country where nearly all congresspersons are bought!
"nearly all congresspersons are bought"
and it is thought that slavery was abolished.