This is not the best way to build a stable country. A "vicious patronage" system exists. It is not a pretty picture.
Just about any American who’s spent much time in Afghanistan will tell you that the biggest challenge we faced there wasn’t the insurgency, but the culture, specifically the “old boy” patronage networks and expectations of bribery that have wasted untold millions of American taxpayers’ money.
Afghanistan often looks like a vicious circle: we haven’t succeeded in establishing a reasonably stable democracy because of corruption and patronage networks, which are fed by American contracts, which are necessary to set up the institutions for a democracy.
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