The formation of a political oligarchy

It took the NYT almost a decade to find out what Karzais are doing in Afghanistan - forming a political oligarchy. It wouldn't have made news in Afghanistan even right after his formation of the interim governance; it is certainly not surprising for Afghans now. This common practice is called "filling his pockets" in the country. In fact, for many of the people who did vote for Karzai during the presidential elections, their main reason was something to the effect of "his pockets are already half full...if a new president takes over, he will start over from scratch, and that is always a worse alternative."

Read full text article here: "Karzai’s Kin Use Ties to Gain Power in Afghanistan"