Galbraith: Taliban prison escape is ‘very consistent’ with a corrupt system in Afghanistan

On “In the Arena,” former diplomat Peter Galbraith discusses the Taliban prison escape and the double-sided nature of the government and security companies when dealing with the Taliban and drug trade.

Galbraith says, “When we hire a security company, that security company is then paying off the Taliban not to attack or if they think their contract is in danger their paying off the Taliban to attack to demonstrate their value. The drug trade involves people who are associated with the government and people in the Taliban.”

He continues, “The problem is it is a fundamentally corrupt system. [U.S.] involvement, assistance, expenditures have fueled the corruption. And there’s no way for [the U.S.] to get back on track. We cannot reform Karzai and his cohorts to make them into some kind of honest government that’s capable of winning the support of the Afghan people.”