On the recordJuly 26, 2010
I think we have seen this movie before. Last week, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, before an audience of international leaders on whose support he depends, pledged to root out corruption, implement reforms and run a better government, but we heard the same promises at an earlier conference this January; and we heard them again when President Karzai came to Washington for a state visit in May. There seems to be little accountability when he fails to keep his word, as he never comes away from any of these gatherings with more than a slap on the wrist, if that. If Mr. Karzai is serious about cracking down, why doesn't he start by reining in his own brother, a strongman who rules Kandahar with iron-fisted intimidation? What does President Karzai have to say about the fact that billions of dollars in cash have been flown out of Kabul Airport in the last few years? Lip service and vague promises are really not enough, Madam Speaker. What is sustaining the Taliban more than anything else is the Afghanistan Government's failure to have any competency or legitimacy. No one is more frustrated than the Afghan people, who voiced their displeasure with government corruption in a recent survey conducted by an Afghan watchdog group. Bribery shakedowns are increasingly seen as a way of life. The cost of securing basic services from the government depends on paying somebody off. Even when the government isn't dishonest, it is slow and ineffective.
