US Afghanistan watchdog slams anti-corruption body

The US government's top watchdog on Afghanistan criticised in a report published on Thursday an Afghan anti-corruption body formed in 2008 as being ineffective, lacking independence and never verifying the asset declaration forms of former President Hamid Karzai.

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) found that asset declaration forms submitted by Karzai and senior members of his government had omissions and errors.

The report highlights the challenges Afghanistan faces in battling corruption, which US officials say undermines the fight against the Taliban, Reuters news agency reported.

This year, watchdog group Transparency International ranked Afghanistan 166th out of 168 nations in its annual corruption index.

The SIGAR report found that when Karzai submitted his asset declaration form in September 2015, he listed cash in a German bank account but did not give an account number and left the source-of-money field blank.

When then-Vice President Karim Khalili left office, his declaration form said he had "no cash assets or personal effects, and no vehicles, loans, off-duty activities, or educational expenses to declare," the report said.

Khalili reportedly declared a house and four plots of land but gave no information on their value.