DEMOCRACY IN THE BALANCE: In Afghanistan, money tips the scales of justice

Kabul, Afghanistan — IN the halls of justice here, almost everything is for sale. It can take one bribe to obtain a blank legal form and another to have a clerk stamp it. -- Systematic injustice stokes searing humiliation and resentment, turning many Afghans against President Hamid Karzai's government and his foreign backers. Nostalgia for the ruthless rule of the Taliban is growing as the line between judges and criminals blurs. When they can't find justice in the courts, Afghans are tempted to turn back to what they've trusted most for a generation: their weapons.