Afghan corruption fighter dismissed
Share with others:
KABUL, Afghanistan -- One of the country's most senior prosecutors said Saturday that President Hamid Karzai fired him this week after he repeatedly refused to block corruption investigations at the highest levels of Karzai's government.
Fazel Ahmed Faqiryar, the former deputy attorney general, said investigations of more than two dozen senior Afghan officials -- including Cabinet ministers, ambassadors and provincial governors -- were being held up or blocked outright by Mr. Karzai, Attorney General Mohammed Ishaq Aloko and others.
Mr. Faqiryar's account of the troubles plaguing the anti-corruption investigations has been largely corroborated in interviews with five Western officials familiar with the cases. They say that Mr. Karzai and others in his government have repeatedly thwarted prosecutions against senior Afghan government figures. An American official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Afghan prosecutors had prepared several cases against officials suspected of corruption, but that Mr. Karzai was "stalling and stalling and stalling."
"We propose investigations, detentions and prosecutions of high government officials, but we cannot resist him," Mr. Faqiryar said of Mr. Karzai. "He won't sign anything. We have great, honest, and professional prosecutors here, but we need support."
Earlier this month, Mr. Karzai intervened to stop the prosecution of one of his closest aides, Mohammed Zia Salehi, who investigators say had been wiretapped demanding a bribe from another Afghan seeking his help in scuttling a corruption investigation.
Neither Mr. Karzai nor Mr. Aloko responded to requests for comment to their offices Saturday. Mr. Salehi could not be reached for comment.
Mr. Faqiryar made his allegations amid a growing sense of alarm in the Obama administration and the Congress over Mr. Karzai's failure to take action against officials suspected of corruption, but also as the administration debates whether pushing too hard on corruption will alienate the cooperation they need to wage war.
Awash in American and NATO money, Mr. Karzai's government is widely regarded as one of the most corrupt in the world. American officials believe that the corruption drives Afghans into the arms of the Taliban.
In a two-hour interview at his home, Mr. Faqiryar said he and the other prosecutors in his office were demoralized and exhausted by the repeated refusal of Mr. Karzai and Mr. Aloko to allow them to move against corrupt Afghan leaders.
First Published August 29, 2010 12:00 am
