February 2009: Province Kunduz, district Qila-e-Zal
I went to the district center, Akhtifah, to get my Tazkira (the Afghan national identity card) from the district government registration office. A cousin who lives in the village and an elder of the village accompanied me, both to testify in the office that I was an Afghan and needed the card.
The office, the building of a former local company now occupied by the district government, looked like a construction company with a few old machines sitting in the corners; yet the place was busy with the movements of police coming and going. We entered a room where a middle-aged, fierce-looking man sat behind a table and was screaming at a young boy, sitting opposite him. We greeted both of them with a 'salam,' shook hands, and sat on a bench in the corner waiting for our turn.
It was after that when I learned that the young boy also had applied for the identity card. He was sitting on the chair scared and visibly shaking, either from anger or fear. The man, who issued the cards, threw the application papers at the boy and screamed, 'mother-fucker, your application is not attested by any elder?'
The boy collected the papers with shaking hands, found the page which was attested by an elder of his village, and placed it on the top of the other papers. Then slowly he handed the papers to the officer. The officer by then had busied himself in some other property papers. He rose up angrily, attacked the boy, threw him out of the room, and sent the dirtiest swear words I had ever heard after him.
It was a shock for me. I had been for a few days in Afghanistan and witnessing this kind of attitude was absolutely unbearable. My companions realized my temper and tried to tell me that it was okay. 'The boy has to give him some money. Without that he can never get the card. Everyone knows that.'
I tried to remain calm. Then we gave him my application. Without having a look at the application, he looked at me and in a very insulting manner commented, 'You don't look like an Afghan? What do you need a Tazkira for?' I showed him a copy of my father's and uncles' cards and other necessary documents. He did not look at them either, and instead started screaming while using very bad language. Eventually I had to give him some money and use my contacts in the provincial center to get the Tazkira.
Outside of the office, I found the boy asking a man what to do. I asked him why he needed a Tazkira while living in the village. 'Every time I go to the market or just walking on the road, the police ask me to show Tazkira. I don't have one, so they accuse me for being a Taliban and torture me. I applied for one but could not get it. I don't have that much money to pay him. Better if I become a real Taliban. Then they will not dare to ask me.'
***
April 2009: Kabul city
I rented a flat in Kabul city. After all the contract and payment procedures were done, I and the estate agent had to go to the police station to complete a registration process. We entered the room of the police commander and said the greetings with great respect. He did not give any response, instead, looked straight at the two young men standing close to the door of the room. They had fought on some renting issues and were arrested by the police. One was owner of the house and was son of a former commander. Many of his relatives were standing with him there. The other, the tenant, injured in the fight, also stood there, chained. The commander asked the tenant, the wounded young man, to tell him what had happened. He said that he had rented a house from the man and had paid one year's rent in advance. But then he found that the owner of the house and his relatives and friends were involved in criminal activities.
'For that reason I no longer wanted to live in their house. I told them about my decision and asked for my money back according to our contract. But he started threatening me and entered my home and insulted my family members.'
Suddenly there was a boom in the room. It was the police commander's boot that hit the young man, the tenant. 'You son of a bitch! He is a respected citizen, a former police officer, and you say he was involved in crimes. You don't know who you are talking about!' yelled the police commander. Two guards grabbed the young man and dragged him out. I could hear him saying, 'bring the Taliban O God, I swear I will go to Taliban now.'
***
October 2010: Kabul city
I received a letter from the Ministry of Communication that a friend in Europe had sent me a parcel. I was told to collect it from the office of the Ministry. I was there the next day. The parcel contained some books, clothes, and home appliances. I had to go through a long procedure. First to one window, where I showed my identity card, then to another room where I had to register my name. After that to another room where they opened the parcel and checked every single article. Then I was told that for the books I had to wait a few days because the books will be sent to the Ministry of Culture and Information and if okayed from there, I would be able to collect them next week. For the other things, they told me, I had to pay 1000 Afghanis. For this they sent me to another room. The man there gave me two options: either I go to the bank and pay there, which will take a whole day because the payment can only be done at the national bank of Afghanistan and they have a very lengthy process. Or, give the one thousand to him and he will do it in the office. I preferred the latter because I had already wasted lot of my time. I gave him the money; he filled in a few forms; we signed them; and then he took me to the officer's office where a fat man was drinking green tea and signing some forms. Both of the men talked, and my papers were signed. After that they told me that there was only one more step. I had to go to the last man who will sign the forms. I went to another room. The man there studied the forms and then asked me:
'Did you pay anything for this?'
'Yes, one thousand Afghanis,' was my answer.
'And do you know what did you pay that for?'
'Well, they told me that it was a government fees,' I was trying to control myself with these stupid questions.
'No,' he said, 'it was a government fees but it should have been paid to the bank, not the officer in that room. You gave him bribes!'
'Well, I did not know that he was taking this as bribe. I am in hurry; I have lot of work to do. Could you tell me what should I do now?' I requested him.
'That's easy. Give one thousand to me and take your parcel,' he said. I was very angry now. 'And what if I don't give that?'
'I will make a corruption case against you and the man who you bribed!'
I threw all the forms on his face, picked my parcel and took my way. Thanks God that he did not try to stop me.
***
April 2010: Kabul city
After a tiring journey back home in Kabul, I was informed about receiving an electricity bill of 64,000 Afghanis for four months. It was a shock for me. Totally unbelievable because during the first two months the bill was 7,400 Afghanis, the next two months it was about 1,300 Afghanis, and now suddenly 64,000 Afghanis! (my two months' salary).
I went to the nearest electricity office to find out the reason. It was about 2:00 PM and the office was closed. We (I and the owner of the house) waited about an hour and then returned to the office. It was open this time. A man was resting on a cot inside the office, listening to loud music. We requested permission to enter and he granted it with a style of some Mughul king. Then we showed him the electricity bill and asked if he would be kind enough to tell us why this much bill. He said:
'Well, everything is clearly written. If you want to pay, go to bank and pay, if you don't want to do that, do whatever you want. I cannot help.'
'Are you a responsible person in this office?' I asked.
'Yes, of course, I am responsible that is why I am here!' he answered.
'Then you have the responsibility to tell us why it was so much?' I requested.
'No, I don't have any responsibility of that kind. Now you can go,' he ordered.
'Could you tell us your name, please?' I requested again.
'No, I can't. I am a government employee, not a thief to tell you my name!'
I had to laugh. I showed him my identity card, my passport, my office card, and everything that could prove my identity. And then said: 'I see that you are a government employee, but you act like thieves; thieves don't tell their names, other people don't have any difficulty to tell. I showed you all identification cards that I have.'
'Well, your cards mean nothing to me. I am a government employee and my name has a value. Why should I tell you my name?'
Why? We asked one another and left the office. Then someone told us that if you report the case to the area office, they may help. So we did that in the office in Deh Mazang area. It was a long procedure - writing an application, and then getting signed by many officers. We did all that. After that they sent a man with us to check the meter and find out the problem. When we came back to the meter, it was locked and the office closed. The man had phone numbers of two meter readers. We called to the first. His answer was: 'My duty was until 12:00 PM. I have finished my duty. You can contact the other one.' We rang the second. His mobile was off. We tried and tried all the day, but always came the automatic response: the subscriber of the number has turned off his phone or is out of the covering area. I wrote to many higher officials. Still no response. The problem never solved.
***
I have many other horrible stories of the corrupt government offices but I think these few examples are enough.
***
Afghanistan has 34 provinces and about 400 districts. You multiply the ministries, departments, prisons, and other government offices with them. Everybody (not warlords, drug traffickers, kidnappers, and war criminals) who had to go to any of these offices for anything return extremely disappointed, insulted, and hopeless. Corruption, mismanagement, inefficiency, and abuses of human rights are on the peak in these places. The officials ruling there are acting like warlords of the period of 1992-1996, that was the period that resulted into the creation of the Taliban.
President Karzai recently threatened that he may join the Taliban. I think he badly needs to do that because his corrupt and inefficient government has already been helping in strengthening the Taliban. Thousands of Afghans go to these centers of corruption everyday; it is very easy to turn a few hundred of them into Taliban every month. If this continued, there will be either a Kyrgyzstan-like uprising or a Taliban take over soon. In both cases he needs to join them to save his skin from the anger of the people.