Washington: Sending a tough message to Hamid
Karzai as he readies for the second phase of his presidency,
the Obama Administration has said it would now hold the Afghan
government accountable for the assistance by the US and others
in providing security to the people of the war-torn country.
"We are laying out very clear expectations. We are
willing to offer our assistance, but we are going to hold the
Government of Afghanistan accountable for what they claim they
want, which is the United States and the international
community's assistance in providing security for their people
and in producing results for them as well," Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton said.
Clinton, who was in Egypt yesterday, told the popular
National Public Radio in an interview from Cairo that she
spoke with Karzai after the Afghan presidential election
results were announced and she told him that they now had a
lot of work to do, and there were expectations on both sides.
"From the American perspective, we believed it was
important for him to establish a compact with the people of
Afghanistan that would commit him and his new government to an
anti-corruption campaign, to more accountability and
transparency, to a recognition that there has to be more
cooperation with local officials, that they have to work with
us to build an adequate Afghan security force to protect and
defend their country," she said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, November 05, 2009, 15:04