How corruption can be moved from the Afghan government? And how narcotic can be eradicated from Afghanistan?
Gregg Sullivan, Spokesman: You ask two excellent questions Farid, and I won’t lie by saying the solution is easy or quickly-implemented. As President Obama said, “we cannot turn a blind eye to the corruption that causes Afghans to lose faith in their own leaders.” We see in consistent polling of Afghans that corruption remains one of their top concerns – and in many cases their number one concern. It prevents the delivery of relief and development projects to ordinary Afghans and presents the Taliban with a significant recruitment opportunity. The durability of the Afghan state rests on the trust of its people and their ability to expect delivery of basic services. But, how do you fix it? Well, I won’t claim that we have all the answers, but we have some ideas. First, we recognize that the previous Administration’s focus on Iraq prevented us from having the focus, resources, and personnel to adequately take on the corruption challenge. There are 396 districts in Afghanistan and not nea
