How corrupt can the Karzai government become?

Heck it worked in Iraq, why shouldn’t it work in Afghanistan? If you can’t beat them, then buy them. Less than half of the Taliban fighters are dedicated Jihadis; most of them are toting AKs for the money. Yes, the Taliban leadership pays regular salaries to its soldiers. And that’s more than the Afghan government does for its military and police.

Back to the original theme. I read a most telling Washington Post article a couple of days ago. It seems that a Taliban soldier had heard that if he put down his weapon, the Afghan government would provide him a job and a home. What a deal. So, this chap duly lay down his weapon and applied for the benefits. The government response: “Sorry, we have nothing for you. We have no money to provide these benefits.”

No money? After all those hundreds of millions of U.S.taxpayer dollars we’ve doled out to the Afghan government for this and countless other programs and now, when the program is just beginning to work, the Karzai gang claims they have no money? Well, the poor aforementioned chap is trying to explain to his family why, now that he’s stopped fighting, the quality of his life has not improved.

So, our guys are fighting and dying to support a regime that is so corrupt, so bereft of even a smidgen of morality it merits being effaced. Will Washington please wake up and smell the noxious vapors arising from Karzai's palace?