Report: Corruption undermines US efforts in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan – A U.S. report says widespread corruption in Afghanistan has undermined efforts to rebuild the country.

The U.S. government's Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction says corruption has fueled grievances against the Afghan government and channeled material support to the insurgency.

In a new report released on Wednesday, SIGAR says the United States contributed to the growth of corruption by being too slow to recognize the magnitude of the problem as it injected tens of billions of dollars into the Afghan economy.

SIGAR, which provides independent oversight of U.S. reconstruction funds for Afghanistan, also urged the U.S. mission to make anticorruption efforts a top priority in order to prevent systemic corruption from undermining U.S. strategic goals in the country.

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Online:

Special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction: http://www.sigar.mil