They are supposed to be Afghanistan's bravest, straightest legal minds - the men leading President Hamid Karzai's charge to rid the land of corruption. Yet four of its top prosecutors have failed FBI lie-detector tests meant to weed out the corrupt. They failed when asked if they had accepted a bribe in the past two years but remain in post.One is in charge of the flagship Anti-Corruption Unit at the attorney general's office, one is in charge of human resources, which staffs the ACU, and one is acting deputy attorney general - Afghanistan's second most senior prosecutor. The fourth man - who denies the claims - was a special adviser to the attorney general for eight months. He is now a legal adviser to the finance minister. All claim the tests were unreliable. "I respect technology but the polygraph is not suitable for Afghan people," said Ahmed Baig Qaderi, the acting deputy. "Sometimes Afghan people are sick, sometimes they are under pressure, sometimes the polygraph has technical problems." For Jerome Starkey's full article, click here.
Times correspondent Jerome Starkey and Guardian correspondent Jon Boone are available in Kabul.