Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty February 19, 2020 The long-awaited result of Afghanistan’s bitterly disputed presidential election was expected to end months of uncertainty. Instead, President Ashraf Ghani’s reelection has triggered a political crisis that has threatened to spill over into violence and derail a historic peace deal between the United States and the Taliban.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty February 19, 2020 KABUL– Afghan Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum has called on his supporters to take to the streets to protest the reelection of President Ashraf Ghani. But reports from across Afghanistan say that, despite Dostum’s rallying cry, there was little sign of major protests or celebrations by Afghans weary
1TV: Afghan government is a corrupt government, US Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren said on Friday. “What has all these years of war brought us? Right now, the Afghan Government controls less than 60% of the land. People don’t have faith in it. It’s a corrupt government. The opium trade is higher than ever,” Senator
Tolo News: Presidential Palace pictures of President Ghani’s meetings show his running mate Amrullah Saleh sitting next to him, which adds fuel to speculation among critics of the Ghani administration that Saleh is performing government duties unofficially. Saleh, who is running as Ghani’s first vice president, has also been referred to as a high-ranking official
AP: Afghanistan will need vast amounts of foreign funding to keep its government afloat through 2024, a U.S. agency said Friday, even as foreign donors are increasingly angry over the cost of debilitating corruption and the U.S. seeks a peace deal with Taliban to withdraw its troops from the country. International money pays for roughly
Tolo News: John Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), told US Congress on Tuesday that corruption remains the top “strategic threat” to the legitimacy and success of the Afghan government, and that Afghanistan is “nowhere near” able to fund its own government–“in particular, its military and police”—with its own resources. Click here to read
Tolo News: Transparency International released its Corruption Perception Index 2019 on Thursday, and the organization ranked Afghanistan among the top 10 most corrupt countries in the world. The report states that anti-corruption efforts have not made progress in the country since 2018. Based on the index, Afghanistan scored 15 out of 100 in 2017, followed
Ariana: The US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) underlines that the US government has unwantedly reinforced the Taliban by backing up the corrupt warlords in Afghanistan. John Sopko, the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, said that to bring security, the US and its allies supported some warlords who were governing some provinces
Tolo News: A list seen by TOLOnews shows that a number of President Ashraf Ghani’s close aides have been chosen for Afghanistan’s key diplomatic offices abroad. Last year, President Ghani appointed Walid Tamim – who was accused of corruption and embezzlement and whose case was referred to the Attorney General’s Office – as Afghanistan’s ambassador to India.
Tolo News: Integrity Watch Afghanistan (IWA) on Friday criticized an agreement enabling the presidential operations unit to import thousands of metric tons of wheat from India. According to Integrity Watch Afghanistan (IWA), the National Procurement Authority (NPA) has taken the contract for shipping thousands of metric tons of Indian wheat into the country from one