The Karzai administration in Afghanistan has confirmed reports that they have been accepting cash donations from Iran amongst other countries but strongly denies links to corruption.
Last week the New York Times reported that Iran had been handing bags full of cash, largely denominated in Euros , to Karzai's aides for the past couple of years. The Times' journalists said that the money was used in order to buy influence in Kabul and to strengthen Iranian presence there. But President Hamid Karzai said that many countries, including the US, gave money in this way and it was all part of a "transparent" process.
Doubts remain however as to, transparent or not, this is a source of funding that should be endorsed. The whole process of handing over bags of cash, in Iran's case hundreds of thousands or millions of euro's once or twice every year, seems to be an effort to work outside the framework for aid that is in place for the government. As more and more about the story comes out it appears the main reason for doing so is that Karzai and his administration could then used the money for personal use rather than public.
The fact that there is corruption in Afghanistan probably comes as no surprise to anybody but the way it occurs and the source of the funding is another issue entirely.
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