Dear All
After a lot of thinking, the Americans have decided to try and tackle the corruption that is rampant through the Afghan Government.
The US has to try and establish law and order and good governance before it can really tackle the Taliban problem more effectively.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is of the opinion that The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai must set up a "major crimes tribunal" and an anti-corruption commission.
This commission must be under Islamic Law and be draconian in nature if it is to be effective at all.
And I do mean draconian.
Karzai's spokesmen have insisted the Afghan leader's administration is "serious" about tackling corruption.
Seems like playing for time and platitudes to me and I would suspect everyone else.
So why is good governance so important?
Effective government by the people for the people allows people to have their stake in society protected.
Although American troops can score military success, it is nothing if the local people cannot be brought on board.
Afghanistan is regularly listed as among the worst five countries out of 180 for corruption by watchdog groups.
The task is massive, the corruption is deep rooted and institutional.
If the Americans cannot get good governance to work, it should abandon the Afghanistan project because the status quo is turning politically unacceptable to the public.
In a recent poll, 71% want to bring British troops home as they see the Afghan war as unwinnable.
Afghanistan's chief prosecutor allegedly has a list of senior officials and ministers suspected of taking bribes.
Interesting what will happen if these people are found guilty in the major crimes tribunal.
The track record for justice is very poor so far.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
After a lot of thinking, the Americans have decided to try and tackle the corruption that is rampant through the Afghan Government.
The US has to try and establish law and order and good governance before it can really tackle the Taliban problem more effectively.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is of the opinion that The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai must set up a "major crimes tribunal" and an anti-corruption commission.
This commission must be under Islamic Law and be draconian in nature if it is to be effective at all.
And I do mean draconian.
Karzai's spokesmen have insisted the Afghan leader's administration is "serious" about tackling corruption.
Seems like playing for time and platitudes to me and I would suspect everyone else.
So why is good governance so important?
Effective government by the people for the people allows people to have their stake in society protected.
Although American troops can score military success, it is nothing if the local people cannot be brought on board.
Afghanistan is regularly listed as among the worst five countries out of 180 for corruption by watchdog groups.
The task is massive, the corruption is deep rooted and institutional.
If the Americans cannot get good governance to work, it should abandon the Afghanistan project because the status quo is turning politically unacceptable to the public.
In a recent poll, 71% want to bring British troops home as they see the Afghan war as unwinnable.
Afghanistan's chief prosecutor allegedly has a list of senior officials and ministers suspected of taking bribes.
Interesting what will happen if these people are found guilty in the major crimes tribunal.
The track record for justice is very poor so far.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
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