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WikiLeaks: Bribery, Graft Rampant in Afghanistan | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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KABUL, Afghanistan, (AP) – Leaked U.S. diplomatic cables portray Afghanistan as rife with corruption to the highest levels of government.

The cables are part of a vast tranche of communiques released by the WikiLeaks website.

The documents also detail Iran’s support of Afghan insurgents.

An October 2009 cable from the American embassy in Kabul says a money transfer business called New Ansari is “facilitating bribes and other wide-scale illicit cash transfers for corrupt Afghan officials.”

And Mohammad Omar Daudzai, President Hamid Karzai’s chief of staff, told embassy officials in February that Iran no longer bothers to deny its support for the Taliban. Daudzai says that on occasion, Afghan men are crossing into Iran where they are recruited and trained to return and fight.