Afghan donors want more transparency

Donors to Afghanistan are expected to make more demands for an end to corruption as they make their latest round of pledges, officials say. The conference is being held Sunday in Tokyo with a U.S. delegation headed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, The Washington Post reported. Donor nations are expected to agree to an annual total of $3.9 billion, either through 2017 or 2025. While Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected to promise more transparency and less corruption as he has in the past, some observers said this time the donor nations are more likely to turn off the tap if he does not comply. NATO promised at a recent summit to contribute $4 million for the training of Afghan security forces. "The numbers are relevant to some, but what's more relevant is the idea that the international community is agreeing on the need for assistance, the need to keep investing in Afghanistan, and that the Afghans themselves are also taking responsibility for the things they need to do," a senior Obama administration official told the Post, speaking on condition of anonymity. A former official said that in the past the United States kept aid flowing no matter what Karzai did, giving him little incentive to root out corruption. Brig. Gen. Rick Waddell, who heads NATO's anti-corruption task force, said Afghanistan's recent history has contributed to its corruption. "When society was utterly devastated, survival meant controlling vital avenues of ingress and egress, controlling commodities and tribal trade routes," Waddell said. "That pattern of behavior doesn't go away."