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Corruption in Afghanistan Is Getting ‘Significantly Worse’
It’s getting worse.… Significantly worse,” John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, told reporters at a breakfast roundtable. “Corruption is not only feeding insurgency, it’s feeding a number of corrupt officials.”
The Afghan government—and the country’s economy—relies heavily on foreign investments. But Sopko said there’s been no point person for overseeing the building of a self-reliant economy. That is indicative, he says, of the larger problems facing the country.
“I can not find anybody who’s lost their job for screwing up, and there have been a lot of screwups in Afghanistan, and that’s a problem,” Sopko said. “It seems like nobody is responsible for anything in Afghanistan.… It’s almost like a toddler’s sports game—everybody’s a winner.”