The Tragedy of Kabul Bank

The Tragedy of Kabul Bank is the story of a massive fraud, deception and betrayal by a group of crony capitalists aided and abetted by the then highest political authorities of Afghanistan. It is an expose of rampant greed and excessive risk taking that shocked the world and caused enormous damage to Afghanistan’s economy and image. The Tragedy of Kabul Bank is a narrative of a notorious case of corruption in post-Taliban Afghanistan, recipient of the largest foreign aid since European reconstruction. 

The Tragedy of Kabul Bank is a minute by minute account of multiple crises occurring at the same time and in quick succession and the panic that precipitated the largest bank run the country had ever seen.  It is also an astonishing story of sacrifice and bravery by staff of the Central Bank who faithfully investigated members of the most powerful mafia in order to track and recover the stolen funds, but fell prey themselves.

As the then Governor of the Central Bank, Fitrat struggled hard against impossible odds, but failed to bring the perpetrators to justice.  Faced with imminent threats to his safety, he fled to the United States in June 2011.   He and his innocent colleagues at the Central Bank became the subject of persecution by the ruling cliques experiencing enormous pain and suffering that has continued to this day. The alleged perpetrators who stole nearly one billion dollars of depositors’ money and caused the bank’s downfall largely escaped justice. Many of them including relatives of political elites were not even in the prosecution list and received no verdict. The most shocking episode came when President Karzai invited the alleged perpetrators for a luncheon in the Presidential Palace and instead of sending them to prison assured them of his unwavering support. The failure to prosecute the perpetrators became a major source of discontent for the international donor community and the Afghan people alike.