Washington: Afghanistan's President Hamid
Karzai vowed to root out official corruption in his country,
even as he insisted that complaints from western powers about
government graft are "overplayed."
"The issue of corruption has been politically overplayed
by some of our partners in the international community," the
Afghan leader said.
He added in an interview that aired Sunday on television that his government "will address all of those
questions that are in Afghanistan that are our problems. It is
our responsibility, and we must do it."
Karzai also placed some blame for the endemic corruption
in Afghanistan on the very western nations which aim to help
protect and rebuild his war-ravaged country which has been
losing ground to al Qaeda and Taliban fighter.
"I also hope that our partners will also address problems
that they bring to us that cause corruption, that cause bad
governance, that cause parallel governance, that cause
insecurity," Karzai said yesterday.
"We must work together in order for us to reach our
objectives," he said.
Karzai added that he plans to focus on making his society
more streamlined and transparent, including "improving the
rule of law, further improving the judiciary" and reducing red
tape, he said.
PTI
First Published: Monday, December 07, 2009, 21:08