Join me for the last episode of the this season of Kleptocracy and Corruption! Source: “The Afghan Government Was Undone by Its Own Corruption.” The Economist. The Economist Newspaper. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://www.economist.com/asia/2021/08/26/the-afghan-government-was-undone-by-its-own-corruption. “Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan as a State and ...” Accessed April 23, 2022. https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Agreement-For-Bringing-Peace-to-Afghanistan-02.29.20.pdf. Sanger, David E., and Helene Cooper. “Taliban Sweep in Afghanistan Follows Years of U.S. Miscalculations.” The New York Times. The New York Times, August 14, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/14/us/politics/afghanistan-biden.html.

Why after twenty years and two trillion dollars spent, is Afghanistan still the world’s sixth poorest country, reconstruction projects have failed to materialise, and the Taliban were able to take control of the entire country in just nine days? This podcast will approach this question from the point of view that the negative outcomes of the last twenty years of Afghan politics and US led policies stems from the formation of an Afghan kleptocracy and widespread political, cultural, and economic corruption. Furthermore, each episode will focus on a different political, cultural, or economic aspect that helped foster corruption and the ultimate failure of US driven policy.