One thing that allowed the Taliban some measure of popular support in its early years was its hardline stance against corruption -- something that obviously came at a price. Since the group got deposed, corruption has roared through Afghan society like a metastasizing tumour.
A senior official at Afghanistan's interior ministry admits that corruption is a problem, but he blames it on war, lack of capacity and lack of proper support from the international community.
"We have had 30 years of war, police salaries are low, the cost of living very high, and we need better salaries.
"Corruption will only vanish once we deny people the reasons to be corrupt. We also need to fire corrupt officials at the highest level. If we don't, then people will lose more trust in the Afghan government," he says.
Many Afghan officials are not keen openly to admit that corruption is widespread.
But Mirwais Yasini, a Member of Parliament in the lower house of the Afghan parliament is not so reticent.
"Afghanistan has topped the world's list of corrupt countries - it's like Nigeria," he says.
Other Afghans, like office worker Wagma Karimi, agree that corruption is at an all time high.
"In my view corruption and bribes have reached a stage beyond the imagination," he said.
"In the past when someone was asking for bribes he would do so in secrecy - but now it happens openly and no one seems to do any work without extra inducements."