Karzai Blocks US Officials From Afghan's Central Bank

Hamid Karzai isn't exactly making it easy for the US to curb money laundering and corruption in Afghanistan, a new audit finds. Among other things, Karzai won't let US Treasury advisers into the nation's central bank—the same bank that can't seem to find $900 million in loans and whose director resigned and fled to the US after pinning the blame for the huge losses squarely on Karzai. Treasury officials say they won't even try to re-enter the bank because the environment there is too "hostile," report Politico and Bloomberg.

“The United States has poured billions of aid dollars into a country plagued by corruption, insurgency, and the narcotics trade,” says the acting US special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction. “US agencies have not done all they can to safeguard US funds, and the Afghan government has not provided the cooperation needed to build a strong, secure financial system." (More Hamid Karzai stories.)