The Wicked and the Evil

The Wicked and the Evil
Crash Test Dummies – Songs of the Unforgiven

There are those who kneel to worship
And beg for clemency
There are those who know the hardship
Of a conscience that is not free

Some are weary, some are cold
Some barely half-alive
But the wicked and the evil
Eat, and drink, and thrive

The prisoners feel the scorching sun
As they toil among the rocks
Some are grim, some resigned
But not one ever talks

Some are weary, some are cold
Some barely half-alive
But the wicked and the evil
Eat, and drink, and thrive

The sinner knowing he has sinned
Is not saved, he is cursed
For no matter how he may repent
He's done his worst

Some are weary, some are cold
Some barely half-alive
But the wicked and the evil
Eat, and drink, and thrive

The perfect song for Afghanistan today. Kleptocracy at its finest, where corruption has to be categorized into “functional” and “dysfunctional”, where bribing someone to do their paid job is more common than trying to bribe them to not do their job.

It’s not hard to spot the wicked and the evil in Afghanistan today. They are, of course, the drug barons, the warlords and probably a majority of the ministers and governors across the country – the obvious ones. The generals and the police chiefs tend to be more subtle – demanding rent for soldiers quarters that they themselves pay no money on, or extorting money “for better rations” for policemen. But corruption has permeated every corner of this society.

My last interpreter, in his quest to emigrate to the United States, found himself paying Afghan Government clerks bribes just to get them to complete the paperwork that they were paid to complete as part of their jobs. He also had to pay the baksheesh to the Pakistani consulate for the visas required for him and his entire family to visit the US Embassy in Islamabad – they handle Afghan immigration, not the embassy in Kabul. It becomes such a regular part of life that people hardly notice – they just turn and pass the charge on to someone else as time goes by.

How do you bring a kleptocracy into the modern world. I can probably advance the argument that it won’t be that hard – they just need to learn how to play with computers and they’ll fit right in. But, just as in America, where Joe the Plumber probably hasn’t seen many benefits from the Bank and Auto bailouts yet, here in Afghanistan, it will be a very long time before Ahmed the Pashtun sees anything any less corrupt.

We’re a month into the anti-corruption 6 month deadline… haven’t seen any changes yet. One down, five to go.