Writer: Samim Qiyam
The last two decades, under the banner of the Republic, began with sweet and deceptive slogans, but ended with rampant corruption, massacres, the tears of widows and orphans, and the escape of corrupt politicians from the Afghan people. For decades, the country and nation were tossed and turned in the hands of corrupt individuals, warlords, murderers, and detestable people like a Buzkashi goat, but in the end, they left the field with nothing but dust and blood.
This system, which positions were divided in Bonn, its rule of force, and coercion, were ended and did not end its dark history and unfortunate stories. The foundation of the republic was built on the sands of corruption, the attempt was to please foreigners instead of the will of the people, ministerial positions were distributed in the market, national wealth was consumed by personal pockets, officials were preoccupied with their homes, accounts, and foreign passports instead of protecting the nation, justice was only a name, but in practice its true face was oppression, fraud, corruption, and injustice. The voice of the people had no value, the rights of the poor were trampled upon, even the salaries of soldiers and the rights of the deceased were eaten. This system had become the enemy of the people instead of meeting their expectations.
Now and then, officials of the republic themselves have confessed to corruption, thefts, and other crimes and have exposed each other. In his recent statements, the then head of procurement, Elham Hotaki, once again exposed a series of corruption and crimes. He stated: $800 million went missing from the Ministry of National Defense, commanders took the salaries of soldiers, contractors fed soldiers donkey and dog meat, half a million dollars was stolen in the construction of a school, nearly a million dollars was embezzled in the construction of one kilometer of road, dams were built on the orders of neighboring countries, and if the neighboring country saw its own loss in it, the dam was not allowed to be built. The republic was compared to a cesspool, and wherever you looked, the stench of corruption would rise from it.
The author of the book “The Secret History of the Afghan War” writes in his book: Afghanistan was a bottomless pit of money. In the early days of the republic, a project titled “Teaching Afghans How to Wash Their Hands” was launched, costing approximately $800 million. The White House expressed delight at this, but when we arrived in Afghanistan, Afghans performed ablutions five times a day; they knew everything. We were left dumbfounded, but it was too late by then. He says that whenever they pursued a case of corruption and crime against a Republic official, the roots of the corruption reached even to the White House. It was a very corrupt system.
During the Republic, Foreign Minister Hanif Atmar said in October 2022: “We were all stealing, so how could the system have continued?” In 2022, Zahir Qadir said: “People like Ghani, Mohib, and Fazli were the rulers of the country, and the republic would have collapsed on its own.” He says that corruption and usurpation reached their peak in the previous regime, and all the officials were American employes.
John Sopko, the head of the US watchdog agency SIGAR in Afghanistan, also stated in his report that government officials were seeking to sexually exploit the widows of Afghan forces. Today, when officials of the republic are confessing their own betrayals, fraud, and corruption, it is clear that their system stood against the people and betrayed them instead of serving them.
The republic was a trader in the Afghan people’s efforts, sacrifices, and hopes; its officials built palaces on the people’s blood, but they were unable to protect the country. Now, when they open their mouth, they only tell the nation that we governed you upside down, and that’s it. These confessions reveal the hidden truths that the people had seen with their own eyes for years and years. The republic condemned itself in its own words and told the people that we were the cause of your destruction.
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