Bad Water Flows From The Spring

"Today during my mentoring session, the topic of corruption surfaced again. An ANA officer who I don’t mentor summed it up with an Afghan proverb, “Bad water flows from the spring”. He was inferring that corruption starts at the very top and then flows down through the various levels. This officer used to be an inspector or auditor ensuring the ANA soldiers got paid. Previously the commanders would receive the pay for the soldiers assigned to their units. Quite frequently soldiers would go AWOL and not return, but the soldier’s name was not removed from the pay roster. Instead the commanders would allegedly pocket this money. This officer (who seemed to have integrity) complained to the Minister of Defense. He found out this was a common practice and his complaint was ignored. Not wanting to have any part of this corruption, he resigned from this duty and took another position."
Afghanistan my Last Tour