Washington: In a stern message to Afghan
President Hamid Karzai, the United States has warned him to
act fast against corruption and governance failing which it
will find someone else for the job.
"If those that are responsible at their different
level are providing the services that a government has to and
needs to provide its people, then we will have a great
relationship with working with those people. If those people
don't, then we will find people that will," White House
spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters.
As the Obama Administration was running against time
to start the process of drawdown and transition to Afghans
from July 2011, the White House indicated that this time
Karzai would not enjoy the kind of leverage it did during the
Bush Administration and he would not get a second chance.
The White House even spoke of bypassing Karzai if his
administration failed to fight against corruption and provide
good governance to the people of his country.
"If President Karzai is unable or unwilling to make
changes in corruption or governance, that we will identify
people at a sub-cabinet level, at a district level that can
implement the types of services and basic governance without
corruption that Afghans need," Gibbs said.
"What we want them to understand is there can't be a
permanent dependence on us being there; that we are going to
incentivize, again, through changes in governance and in
training, putting onto them the responsibility of both running
a government that meets the needs of the people and training
and equipping a security force that will provide the necessary
security to prevent the Taliban from overthrowing the
government.
"As the President said, or creating a safe haven that
would allow al Qaeda to return and plan and plot another
attack on our homeland," Gibbs said.
"The President has been clear with President Karzai,
both in his recent meeting over the secure video
teleconference and phone call right after he was declared the
winner and the next continued President of Afghanistan, that
corruption very directly had to be addressed," the White
House official said.
"I don't want to get into the flow of any of that,
but suffice it to say that we're making very determined
resource commitments both in manpower and in money, from
American service members and American taxpayers, that we
expect will be used for the purpose they were appropriated
for, not for lining the pockets of somebody's friend," he
said.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, December 03, 2009, 09:15