National Security

US gen: Corruption is top threat in Afghanistan

By Deb Riechmann
Published April 30, 2014 8:04pm ET
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US gen: Corruption is top threat in Afghanistan
Afghan National Army (ANA) helicopters deploy soldiers during a military exercise on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, April 30, 2014. The Afghan National Security Forces depend exclusively on billions of dollars in funding from the United States and its allies, money that is now at risk after President Hamid Karzai's refusal to sign a security agreement to keep a small U.S. force of trainers in the country after the NATO-led coalition ends its mission and withdraws at the end of the year. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini) | Massoud Hossaini

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan said Wednesday that corruption, not the Taliban, is the worst threat to the future of the war-torn country.

“For too long we focused our attention solely on the Taliban as the existential threat to Afghanistan,” Ret. Gen. John Allen told a Senate subcommittee. “They are an annoyance” compared to the scope and the magnitude of corruption.

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Afghanistan Nation