Afghanistan and the Corruption-Insecurity Nexus

Abstract

After the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 (aka "9/11"), the United States began its "global war on terror" and as its first act, invaded Afghanistan. After the U.S. invasion and the toppling of the Taliban regime, there was initial hope for state-building and strong institutionalization in Afghanistan, which had faced decades of war, instability, and uncertainty. Sixteen years of occupation and war has led, however, to the gradual gaining of power by the insurgents in different parts of Afghanistan, with the weakening of the overall security situation in the country, to the extent that there is possibility of state failure and further insecurity awaiting Afghanistan. Corruption, in addition to other detrimental factors, i.e., inequality poverty, and drug trafficking, have a significantly negative role in the contemporary security issues in Afghanistan. Corruption is also a reason for the popularity of the Taliban, given that the said extremist group is known by the population to be less corrupt than the existing government. In this way, a nexus of corruption-insecurity has been formed in Afghanistan, a phenomenon which will be discussed in this Thesis. By using primarily content analysis of research papers, news reports, speeches of officials, focus groups and specialized/elite interviews, this thesis will try to find the answer for the reasons behind the popularity of the Taliban and their potential to address the corruption issue more efficiently than does the current government and its predecessor.