Transparency International released its Corruption Perception Index 2020 on Thursday in which it places Afghanistan among 15 most corrupt countries in the world. 

Afghanistan was ranked 165 out of 179 countries in 2020.  

The index shows that anti-corruption efforts in Afghanistan have improved somewhat since 2019. Afghanistan scored 15 out 100 in 2017 followed by 16 in 2018 and 2019 and improved its score to 19 in 2020. This improved Afghanistan’s ranking to 165 among 179 countries. 

“Anti-corruption efforts in 2020 have improved compared to 2019 and is supposed to improve further in coming years, Transparency Afghanistan says, adding that “government needs serious efforts in anti-corruption efforts; and these efforts should be unbiased; anticorruption agencies need to be independent in all their efforts and selection of key personnel in these agencies need to be away from political interferences.”   

The Presidential Palace in a statement said that President Ashraf Ghani has told all government institutions that no negligence will be tolerate in the campaign against corruption. 

 “We want clear will and decisive action in the fight against corruption, and no one should interfere in the fight against corruption,” the statement said, quoting President Ghani. 

This comes days after lawmakers alleged that the government has failed to launch an investigation into corruption cases involving high level government officials. 

 “High ranking officials of the government were not brought to justice. We should bring major corrupt elements to justice so that the people of Afghanistan realize that the government has the ability to take action even against high ranking employees,” said MP Nematullah Karyab. 

"The Afghan government did not take a robust action. The government should cut off the origins of it including the punishment of major economic mafia so that we could manage to save the image of Afghanistan and the people from this defamed trend,” said MP Ghulam Hussain Naseri.

With a score of 88 out of 100, Denmark and New Zealand topped the global CPI 2020, doing best in curbing corruption. 

“Whenever someone goes to a government institution, he faces with problems. We hope that these challenges are resolved soon,” said Hamidullah Baloch, a Kabul resident. 

 “There are a lot of challenges in our institutions. Corruption is widespread,” said Behzad, a Kabul resident.