Afghanistan is in a downward spiral and efforts to defeat the Taliban are being hampered by government corruption, according to a draft report by US intelligence agencies. The classified document casts serious doubt on the ability of the Afghan government to tackle rising violence from militants, according to a report in the New York Times.
It finds that the breakdown in central authority in Afghanistan has been accelerated by rampant corruption within the government of President Hamid Karzai and by an increase in violence by militants who have launched increasingly sophisticated attacks from havens in Pakistan. The intelligence briefing will be the most comprehensive American assessment of the situation in Afghanistan when it is completed in November, after the Presidential elections...(Telegraph.co.uk).
