Clinton says Karzai's speech 'new starting point'
KABUL — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday, saying his inauguration speech marked a "new starting point" for the war-torn country.
Speaking to reporters after attending the ceremony in Kabul at which Karzai was sworn in for another five-year term, Clinton praised his commitment to eradicating endemic official corruption.
"President Karzai's inaugural address provides an important new starting point and we intend to build on it," Clinton said.
"He was particularly strong on the steps that he intends to take regarding corruption," she said, adding it "set forth an agenda for change and reform".
"So many brave Americans are serving here because we believe that we can make progress," she said.
"We are under no illusions about the difficulties of this mission. The road ahead is fraught with challenges and imperfect choices. Setbacks are inevitable and we have to be realistic about what we can achieve," Clinton told reporters.
In what appeared a response to criticism from Karzai and other senior Afghan officials that donor countries should be responsible for where their money goes, she said the United States was working to track development aid.
"As we call for accountability from others, we will hold ourselves accountable as well.
"We are working to ensure that development funds are tracked, accounted for and used as intended, that our detention facilities and procedures are consistent with our security and our values, that we do everything we can to minimize civilian casulaties," she said.
Clinton was the most senior Western official to attend Karzai's swearing-in ceremony, which was attended by 800 guests, including 300 foreigners.
While Karzai has earned the opprobrium of the international community since a fraud-tainted election highlighted the massive levels of official corruption in Afghanistan, his inauguration speech generally won praise.
He pledged to clean up corruption, eradicate drug production and trafficking, work towards ending a Taliban-led insurgency, and see that Afghan security forces can take over from international forces in five years.
The United States and NATO have more than 100,000 troops in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban, which has become more virulent in recent months, with foreign troop deaths nearing 500 this year alone.
US President Barack Obama is considering requests from his commanders on the ground to add up to 40,000 troops, and has said his decision will be announced within weeks.
Asked about the warlords and alleged drug dealers and rights abusers that have appeared in past Karzai cabinets, Clinton said US concerns on this score had been conveyed to the Afghan leader.
"What we are looking for in the second term of President Karzai is an effective government that respects the rights of the people of Afghanistan, delivers services to them, responds in a transparent and accountable way to the concerns of the people," she said.
"We expect that the government he is putting together will abide by the direction that his inaugural speech set," she said.
Karzai is expected to announce his cabinet line-up in about two weeks.
--AFP--
Filed Under: World
