Interview With Afghanistan’s Corruption Czar

I had the opportunity today to sit down in Kabul with Mohammad Yasin Osmani, the head of Afghanistan’s High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption.

Maroney Interview with Mohammad Yasin Osmani

In American parlance, Osmani is Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s “Corruption Czar.”  He is responsible for overseeing the fight against corruption in the Afghan government.

It is a daunting task.  Osmani’s office is less than a year old, and he says it is only 30-percent staffed.  It also is at the center of a storm of international criticism.

I asked him about a recent article in The Times of London, which quoted Afghan officials as saying U.S. President Barack Obama gave Mr. Karzai six months to address corruption or risk losing American support.  Osmani would not comment on the specifics of the article, but he agreed with the six-month time frame for reducing corruption.

He says that within that time, Afghan ministers must examine all their employees to determine if they were hired on the basis of merit or cronyism.

We spoke at length about how his office does not have the authority to investigate or prosecute, it can only “oversee” the strategy to fight corruption.  But he said that with the assistance of Afghanistan’s international partners, including the U.S. Department of Justice, his office has helped draft a new law that would grant it more power in the process.

I asked him about British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s comments this week about the Afghan government.  English may not be Osmani’s first language, but I did detect a strong hint of sarcasm when he said that he was “so happy that [Afghanistan's] international partners are so keen to bring this up.”  He said fighting corruption is a complicated process, especially when Afghanistan still lacks a comprehensive legal code.  But he said there have been some successes.

Osmani told me how Afghan officials have prevented about $200 million in corruption after simplifying the process for registering a vehicle.  The process originally took about a month and up to 20,000 Afghanis — roughly $400 — in bribes to register.  Now, Osmani says the process takes two days and no money.

Osmani says he is committed to uncovering corruption at all levels of Afghanistan’s government, despite the risks.  And after looking at the country’s recent history, including the past presidential election, he certainly has his work cut out for him.