International donors are flocking to Tokyo this weekend for another conference aimed at fundraising for the Karzai government, with plans for people to pledge another decade of funding for the government, seeking promises to “tackle corruption.”
If this sounds familiar, its because this same narrative has played out time and again, always with “conditional” aid demanding the government to stamp out corruption. This is the fifth such conference in the last two years.
The Afghan government is hoping to secure $4 billion in annual funding at the meeting, while reiterating their endless promises to “tackle” the crooked politics that have the nation perpetually at the top of “most corrupt nation” lists the world over.
Whether the plans to cut down on bribery and general theft are simply not working or are a total fiction is unclear. What is clear is that 11 years into the NATO occupation, corruption is still as bad in Afghanistan as ever, and there seems to be no change on the horizon.