UN Study Says Half of Afghans Paid Bribes for Public Officials in 2012

A United Nations report has underlined the rampant corruption in Afghanistan with nearly half of the citizens having paid a bribe to public officials in 2012.

More than 11 years after a US-led invasion led to billions of dollars in aid flowing into one of the world's poorest countries, Afghanistan ranks among the most corrupt nations on earth, reports The News.

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Western nations due to pull their troops out next year have linked future financial support to the aid-dependent nation to a crackdown on graft.

The report by the UN office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Afghanistan's anti-corruption unit says that while there has been "some tangible progress", the total cost of corruption increased to 3.9 billion dollars in 2012, which is 40 percent up on 2009.

The report shows that corruption appears to be increasingly tolerated by ordinary people.

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More than 68 percent of those surveyed considered it acceptable for a civil servant to top up a low salary by accepting small bribes- up from 42 percent in 2009, the report noted.

And 67 percent considered it "sometimes acceptable" for a civil servant to be recruited on the basis of family ties and friendship networks - also up from 42 percent four years ago.

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While the cost of corruption had risen, the total number of people paying bribes had dropped from 58 percent in 2009 to 50 percent last year - but they were paying more often.

The survey was based on a representative sample of 6,700 citizens interviewed across the country.

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President Hamid Karzai in December blamed foreigners for most of the corruption in Afghanistan and said the withdrawal of NATO troops in 2014 would help rid the country of graft.

The Afghan government has previously pointed the finger at the contract systems of the international community for spreading corruption, although it admits graft is rife within its own ranks.

Source-ANI