Kabul: Afghan President Hamid Karzai responded to international criticism of corruption in his administration by calling on Tuesday for large-scale reform to stamp out the bribery and graft that permeate ministries and state offices.
Karzai has been under pressure to clean up his
government following this year's fraud-tainted election. The
August 20 vote took months to resolve because of massive
ballot-box stuffing that nearly derailed the vote, undermining
support for the war against the Taliban in the US and other
troop-supplying nations.
"I know corruption exists in the government and
elsewhere. Let's be realistic. Let's acknowledge the problem
first," Karzai said at the opening of a three-day conference
on corruption that he ordered in his first decree after
retaking office last month.
About 200 officials, mostly ministers,
parliamentarians and diplomats assembled at a marbled hall in
the Foreign Ministry to hear the president. In all, about 400
conference attendees were expected to hash out issues such as
hiring practices and judicial system problems over the next
few days.
The call to end corruption came as Afghanistan
struggles to maintain security in the face of a resurgent
Taliban. As dignitaries awaited the arrival of the president
Tuesday morning, a suicide car bomber hit an upscale
neighborhood of the capital, killing eight people.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, December 15, 2009, 19:40