by Abdul Haleem
KABUL, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Sitting next to an old-fashioned Bukhari, a wooden stove used in Afghanistan to keep the room warm in winter, Abdul Saboor, a retired traffic police officer whispered that he is suffering from respiratory system disease and needs surgery.
"I have bronchitis problem and almost all the doctors I have visited advised me to go under surgery," Saboor spoke softly.
Respected by many Afghans as the "most honest man", Saboor, 54, told Xinhua in his mud house recently that he went to India with the financial support of the government to get cured but in vain due to fund scarcity.
"I visited some doctors in New Delhi with 40,000 afghanis (some 600 U.S. dollars) provided by the government couple of months ago but the money was too little for surgery," Saboor lamented.
Nevertheless, he was grateful to the government for hospitalizing him three times here in Kabul and providing him with medical treatment.
A symbol of dedication, hard work and honesty, the ailing Saboor grumbled politely that he had served his country as a traffic policeman for the past 29 years but has failed to earn money for his medical treatment.
"I began my service with 9,000 afghanis as monthly salary 29 years ago and my salary was 17,600 afghanis when I retired few months ago," said the veteran traffic police.
He blamed the low salary and poverty for forcing government employees including police to receive bribe, claiming since the salary of traffic police is not enough to handle daily life they extort money from drivers on the excuse of violating traffic rules.
Living in a five-room mud house sharing with three brothers and their mother in Afshar locality, a Kabul suburban, Saboor claimed proudly that he likes to adjust his living conditions with meager income rather than living in luxury house built with black money earned through corruption.
"I have never received bribe when on duty but accepted donation offered by anyone," the ailing Saboor said, admitting that many individuals from home and abroad have sent him donation.
Known as the "honest man in Afghanistan" by several social associations, civil society groups and Kabul drivers, Saboor opined proudly that "good reputation and honesty" is everything for him.
Showing over two dozen certificates and appreciation letters received in recognition of his services, the ailing man who was coughing in each few seconds said that he receives 130,000 afghanis (around 2,000 U.S. dollars) as pension per year, but the sum is not enough to run daily life and afford medical treatment.
Working as a traffic policeman since 1987 and experiencing different successive regimes in conflict-riddled Afghanistan, the veteran police has received minor promotion and retired as the captain a few months ago.
Recalling his love for his duty, Saboor said that he used to work from 06:00 a.m. until 07:00 p.m. every day, some 13 hours a day, although the honest man nagged that he received minor promotion.
Nonetheless, the experienced police said he is eager to resume his duty after recovery.
Suffering from respiratory problems with his throat, nose and lung perpetually sore, obviously due to dust inhaled during his hard work in the battered Kabul streets, he hope that "at last I will go under surgery to recover."
Recalling his sweet and bitter memories, the sick traffic policeman evoked that officials had violated traffic laws more than ordinary citizens over the past 15 years, hoping that all Afghans would gradually respect the traffic rules and regulations.
Afghanistan, according to Transparency International, is among the most corrupted countries, where corruptions, according to locals, pervade people's daily life and billions of U. S. dollars contributed by international community over the past 15 years has been embezzled.
Many of Saboor's friends and colleagues, according to Saboor's neighbors, have established luxury lives and profitable businesses because of misusing their authorities but Saboor is not even able to afford doctors' fee for surgery.
"I received a plot from former President Burhanudin Rabbani some 22 years ago and transformed it to my name some four years ago but I can't construct it due to financial problems," the veteran Saboor said softly.
A father of five including two sons and three daughters, Saboor, like thousands of Afghans, has suffered due to endemic war in his country and has lost his father and three brothers in the civil strife.
"My prime wish and my utmost dream nowadays is to get necessary medical treatments including surgery at home or abroad no matter in Turkey or India," the honest Afghan man said wishfully.
