The first report published on the problem of integrity in the Afghan reconstruction, international aid and state building. The issues underlined on this report will start to emerge in the public debate only much later.

The aim of this survey was to provide a mapping of the reconstruction process in Afghanistan and to point out opportunities for corruption as well as practices that allowed for integrity within the process. The survey covered many aspects of the reconstruction process and relied mainly on reports, interviews and media accounts of the process.

Clearly, there is a lack of comprehensive quantitative data regarding the amount of aid that arrived in Afghanistan since the plan of Afghan reconstruction was announced in late 2001. This is because of a high number of actors at the top and the bottom of the chain of aid, their different degrees of willingness to report, their differing definitions and procedures, exchange rates, etc. This is further complicated by insufficient coordination among major donors. The unity of purpose of major players towards the Afghan reconstruction might have helped to ensure a certain degree of coordination through the leadership role of the Afghan government. This would have allowed in return increased transparency. Yet, while major players stated that they were in the same boat, many followed their ephemeral willingness of the moment when it came to determining in which direction, at what pace and how the boat should arrive to that end. Integrity was therefore marred by the competing interests of the donors and especially by the political use of success made by donor governments.