Halifax (Canada) November 21: The international community must ensure that aid and development projects in Afghanistan do not fuel corruption there, US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates has said.
“The reality is that the international presence in Afghanistan has provided a significant influx of assistance dollars and contracts and so on,” Gates told reporters ahead of an international defence summit.
“So it seems to me that the place for us to start is to deal with corruption that may be associated with contracts we’re letting or work that we’re having done and development projects that we’re undertaking in partnership with others including with the Afghans,” he said yesterday.
“I think the place to start is the place where we have the greatest leverage and that’s where we’re writing the checks.
–PTI