News

The former commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance (ISAF), Gen. John Allen has said that ‘corruption' is the worst threat to the future of Afghanistan, even more than the Taliban-led insurgency.
While speaking to a subcommittee of the US Senate, Gen. Allen said, "For too long we focused our attention solely on the Taliban as the existential threat to Afghanistan. They are an annoyance compared to the scope and the magnitude of corruption."

He said, "Wresting back the institutions of governance from corruption must be one of your highest priorities. ... Corruption is the dry rot of democracy."

Comment

The irony in the statements of the likes of Gen. Allen is that they forget to mention the obvious, that it's in fact democracy that has caused and nurtured the corruption in Afghanistan. Democracy is a system that intrinsically functions based on compromise rather than principles. In it the benefit of few politicians is what derives the political career; moreover political scoring is done such that it further divides the community, which each politician seeks to fortify its position based on a variety of lines, such as ethnicity, language, tribe etc. These factors, collectively, make the democratic system inherently prone to corruption. Thereby it allows the same thugs and criminals to make way into the corridors of power. In order to sustain, their rule, each competes with the other to prove its loyalty to the foreign imperial powers.

Rational understanding makes it obvious, that in order to get rid of corruption, it is pivotal to remove the root cause of it first. This root cause is the secular-democracy and Capitalism. Replacing the existing system, with the Islamic Khilafah "Caliphate" is going to bring justice to Afghanistan and will eradicate corruption from its roots. This is because the Islamic system is built on principles, and participants in it cannot bend laws for their own benefit by relying on ‘majority-voting' card.
It is a shame, that while some politicians have been celebrating this failed system of democracy, Afghanistan is constantly getting the number one position in most-corrupt countries ranking. Democracy paves way for the corrupt elites to get to the realm of affairs, by spending huge amounts, bribing and using all sorts of illegal ways.

The question that needs to be asked is: Why do politicians spend such colossal amounts to grab a seat in the parliament? Is it not obvious, that in the existing system it's not the leadership abilities, sincerity or vision that influences political career, rather the key factor influencing is the hard cash, openly and secretly used to sway people on one's side. Due to the significant role money plays in democratic politics, it thereby becomes far easier for external powers to influence legislation via backdoor, through bribing politicians.

Lastly, corruption has been an integral part of secular democracy/capitalism and one cannot function without the other, it's a package deal. As concerned, conscious and politically aware Muslims, it is incumbent upon us to reject this package altogether!

The fact that corruption is integral to democracy is also witnessed even in countries like the US, where corporate funding plays an important role in election campaigns. Today the Muslims in particular and the humanity in general eagerly await to live under the shade of a just and principled system, which only Islam offers.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Dr Naeem Momand
Kabul - Wilayah Afghanistan