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Episode details

World Service,10 Nov 2021,17 mins

Corruption in Afghanistan

Business Daily

Available for over a year

The former finance minister from the collapsed Afghan government, Khalid Payenda, tells Ed Butler that it was brought down by rampant corruption at a very high level. He served for six months from the beginning of this year and says that by the time US forces left and the Taliban began advancing, most of Afghanistan's supposed 300 thousand troops and police didn’t exist. He says phantom personnel were added to official lists so that generals could pocket their wages. Many Afghans feel enraged by the failures of the US-backed government and they say it abandoned them in their hour of need. ( Pic: Man counting money at a market in Afghanistan Credit: Bloomberg Creative )

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