U.N. report says corruption amounts to tax on Afghans

Endemic corruption in Afghanistan amounts to a virtual tax on poverty-stricken Afghans, robbing them of the equivalent of a quarter of the war-racked nation's annual gross domestic product, a new U.N. report states. The report, released Tuesday by the United Nations' Office on Drugs and Crime, found that nearly 60 percent of Afghans regarded corruption as their biggest worry, outpacing concerns about the insurgency or joblessness. As President Hamid Karzai's government prepares for an international aid conference in London on Jan. 28, it likely will face tough questions about measures under way to battle corruption. Corruption at every level of Afghan society has undermined the population's confidence in Karzai and his government - confidence that Washington says is needed before the Taliban can be defeated. One out of every two Afghans reported paying at least one kickback to a public official within a year.