Letter of the week: Karzai has to preside over a corrupt government

Alex de Waal’s account of the tough realities of Afghan politics (December) should be welcomed. Yes, the government of Afghanistan is corrupt. So whoever is governing the country—whether President Karzai or anyone else—has no choice but to rule through a diverse and disparate coalition. Out of necessity, this coalition uses public funds to finance and hold together a complex system of patronage. A look at 18th-century British politics provides some clues as to how this works—though Afghanistan’s problems are far more challenging than the Britain of Walpole and George I. What was surprising about the last Afghan election was not the vote-rigging itself, but the shock expressed by observers and commentators. What did they expect?

Perhaps instead of railing about corruption, commentators should explore how we can help the Afghan government do better. There may be lessons here from Pitt the Younger, who used the corrupt political system he disliked to pursue the foreign and domestic policies he regarded as essential. He knew that if he simply railed against (or fought) a chronically corrupt system, it would have rejected him and his policies. Nevertheless, his time in office did lay some of the foundations for the more transparent and “cleaner” political system that developed in subsequent decades.

Of course, we should not simply accept or turn a blind eye to corruption. But we do need to be more sophisticated in our response to it.

Phil Vernon Via the Prospect website