Improving Security Assistance

Did corruption undermine the international mission in Afghanistan? Increasing evidence says it did. Thank you for joining us for the launch of a report from Transparency International’s Defense and Security Program, Corruption: Lessons From the International Mission in Afghanistan.

The report provides a rigorous analysis of the damage that corruption—and turning a blind eye to it—did to the Afghanistan mission, based on interviews with seventy-five Afghans and internationals who were deeply involved in the mission. The report also offers a policy framework for countering this threat in future security assistance and stabilization operations. Carnegie hosted a conversation with Mark Pyman, author of the report. Carnegie’s Sarah Chayes moderated.

Mark Pyman

Mark Pyman is program director of Transparency International’s Defense and Security Program. The team, active since 2004, engages with defense ministries, national armed forces, and major defense companies, focusing on practical ways of building integrity and reducing corruption in defense and security.

Sarah Chayes

Sarah Chayes is a senior associate in the Democracy and Rule of Law and South Asia programs at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She came to Carnegie after a decade living and working in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and service as special assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She is the author of the new book, Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security.