Here’s some corruption exposed by Wikileaks:

Corruption within the Afghan government is plaguing the effort to stabilize the nation and fight the Taliban influence. The diplomatic cables puts this struggle starkly, especially when dealing with Kandahar Provincial Council Chief (and the president’s brother) Ahmed Wali Karzai. “The meeting with (Karzai) highlights one of our major challenges in Afghanistan: how to fight corruption and connect the people to their government, when the key government officials are themselves corrupt,” reads one dispatch, labeled Confidential. During the meeting, State Department officials and the council chief discuss how the lack of electricity hampers the government’s legitimacy. But the dispatch notes: “Given Ahmed Wali Karzai’s reputation for shady dealings, his recommendations for large, costly infrastructure projects should be viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism.”

Likewise, when it comes to fighting the Taliban, Afghan government officials’ motives are cast into doubt. Karzai lobbied for more local control over hiring security guards. But the Confidential cable notes that Karzai “is understood to have a stake in private security contracting” and is trying “to exert control over how contracts are awarded in the province.”

As we said in August, the problem is that corruption flies in the face of the counterinsurgency effort that the Obama administration is following, which requires a reliable indigenous partner to which it can hand legitimate control. With the politicians fighting and the rehabilitation of the nation lagging, the military effort could stall or prove futile. With the public release of these diplomatic cables, the situation seems even more dire―and damaging to U.S. efforts. popularmechanics.com