Criminal Capture of Afghanistan's Economy --- Integrity Watch urges the Afghan government to end criminal capture of Afghanistan’s economy. -- Wednesday, December 18, 2013 – Kabul: Integrity Watch Afghanistan released a new report today which indicates that Afghanistan’s economy has been captured by strongmen who have monopolized the market and been increasingly engaging in a greater number of diversified businesses countrywide. -- The research, which is based on 100 in-depth interviews with experts from various fields in Kabul, Herat, Balkh, Bamyan, and Nangarhar, reveals that the strongmen have tremendous market power in terms of setting market prices. The report indicates that not only has the Afghan state facilitated an environment for the strongmen to use their political and military power with impunity in order to protect their economic interests, but also, due to a tense security situation, the international security forces and aid agencies have compromised their standards of vetting bidders, allowing strongmen to further assert their power and gain monetarily from development contracts. - More, Integrity Watch Afghanistan, at: http://www.iwaweb.org/_news/news0003_criminal_capture_of_afghanistans_economy.html