Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stressed that the US would not support corrupt parties in the government of Afghanistan and distribution of funds from the US would be based on “certification of accountability and transparency”, leaving out questionable groups.
“We’ve looked at every civilian assistance program and contract and we’ve said, ‘Look, we’re not going to just aid and abet bad behaviour,” said Clinton who spoke to Bob Schieffer of CBS’ ’Face the Nation’. “Part of the challenge here is to begin to make the more difficult, complicated assessments that were not made before.”
Since his win in the 2004 elections, the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been under the blanket of corruption. This year’s election saw Karzai in the midst of an electoral fraud after one third of the votes under his belt have been confirmed bogus by an inquiry. Despite his inaugural speech that he would involve better leaders under his government, doubts are still looming as two of his cabinet ministers are also suspected for fraud. But Defence Secretary Robert Gates said that the administration of US President Barack Obama is not losing hope in the Afghan government.
“The reality is the Karzai government has been painted with too broad a brush,” Gates said. “The reality is we have several ministries – Interior, Defense, Agriculture, Education and some others – where we have very competent, honest ministers that are doing a darn good job. We also have governors in important provinces that are making a big difference, that are honest and competent.”
