Brown Warns Afghan Leader on Corruption
LONDON — In unusually harsh terms reflecting international frustration with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Friday that the government in Kabul would forfeit its right to international support against the Taliban insurgency if it failed to root out corruption.
“Sadly, the government of Afghanistan had become a byword for corruption,” Mr. Brown said in a speech to defense experts. “And I am not prepared to put the lives of British men and women in harm’s way for a government that does not stand up against corruption.”
His words were interpreted by some analysts as the toughest by a Western leader since Mr. Karzai was declared the winner earlier this week of Afghanistan’s flawed elections amid accusations of malpractice at the ballot box and corruption in his government.
The timing of Mr. Brown’s warning was particularly significant, with the Obama administration under domestic and international pressure to decide whether to commit up to 40,000 more American troops to Afghanistan at a time when the international appetite for the conflict seems to be receding.
Mr. Brown was speaking four days after five British soldiers were killed by an Afghan policeman they were supposed to be mentoring in an attack that shook many Britons’ support for the eight-year war. Several British news organizations Friday quoted opinion surveys as saying the number of people favoring the early withdrawal of their troops had increased sharply in recent days.
So far, 230 British soldiers have died since the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001, seven of them in the past seven days. A spokeswoman at the international forces’ joint command in Kabul said Friday that two American soldiers were killed Thursday by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan but gave no further details. The deaths bring to three the number of United States service members killed in the Afghan war so far this month. October was the deadliest month of the war for American forces, with 59 deaths reported, according to icasualties.org, a Web site that tracks combat deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Mr. Brown reiterated that Britain could not afford to “walk away” from its role in the American-led NATO coalition. ”We cannot, must not and will not walk away.”
He continued, “If the Taliban insurgency succeeds in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda will once again cross the border and re-establish themselves in sanctuaries in Afghanistan from where they will plan, train and launch attacks on the rest of the world.”
Mr. Brown said he had spoken several times this week to Mr. Karzai, who had promised that the first action of his new government would be to tackle corruption.
“International support depends on the scale of his ambition and the degree of his achievement in five key areas: security, governance, reconciliation, economic development and engagement with Afghanistan’s neighbors,” Mr. Brown said.
He added, “If the government fails to meet these five tests, it will have not only failed its own people, it will have forfeited its right to international support.” .
Mr. Brown also echoed calls this week by senior Obama administration officials for Mr. Karzai and the Afghan government to put into place an anticorruption commission to establish strict accountability for officials at the national and provincial levels.
In addition, some American and European officials are pressing for at least a few arrests of what one administration official called “the more blatantly corrupt” people in the Afghan government.
Administration officials declined to provide the names of people they wanted to see arrested and acknowledged that such arrests were a long shot. The international community’s wish list of potential defendants includes Mr. Karzai’s brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, a suspected player in the country’s booming illegal opium trade; Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, who is accused of involvement in the killings of thousands of Taliban prisoners of war early in the Afghan conflict; and one of Mr. Karzai’s running mates, Marshal Muhammad Qasim Fahim, a former defense minister who is also suspected of drug trafficking.
Mr. Brown’s comments came one day after Kai Eide, the United Nations special representative to Afghanistan, also took a stern line toward the government, warning Mr. Karzai that unless he carried out sweeping reforms of his government, he would be at risk of losing the support of the international community.
Two days ago, Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, took a different tack, saying, “Karzai is corrupt, O.K.,” but adding that corruption was endemic in Afghanistan and that “he is our guy.”
“We have to legitimize him,” Mr. Kouchner said, if NATO were to have any chance to consolidate Afghanistan and then leave it.
Britain is the second-largest contributor to the coalition fighting the Taliban, with some 9,000 soldiers, compared with 68,000 Americans. But the steady increase of casualties is eroding public support for the conflict.
On Thursday, for instance, the body of Sgt. Olaf Schmid, 30, was flown back to Britain after he died trying to defuse a roadside bomb — one of the most lethal weapons in the Taliban’s arsenal.
As has now become the tradition, the body was driven through the Wiltshire village of Wootton Bassett, close to a military airfield used by flights to and from Afghanistan, on Thursday as a church bell pealed and mourners stood in silence, laying flowers on a hearse bearing a coffin draped in the red, white and blue union flag.
Such poignant moments, broadcast on national television, have raised public doubts about whether the war in Afghanistan can be won. Mr. Brown’s government insists that British troops will be able to withdraw only when Afghan forces are able to take over the campaign against the Taliban.
John F. Burns reported from London, and Alan Cowell from Paris.
LONDON — In unusually harsh terms reflecting international frustration with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Friday that the government in Kabul would forfeit its right to international support against the Taliban insurgency if it failed to root out corruption.
“Sadly, the government of Afghanistan had become a byword for corruption,” Mr. Brown said in a speech to defense experts. “And I am not prepared to put the lives of British men and women in harm’s way for a government that does not stand up against corruption.”
His words were interpreted by some analysts as the toughest by a Western leader since Mr. Karzai was declared the winner earlier this week of Afghanistan’s flawed elections amid accusations of malpractice at the ballot box and corruption in his government.
The timing of Mr. Brown’s warning was particularly significant, with the Obama administration under domestic and international pressure to decide whether to commit up to 40,000 more American troops to Afghanistan at a time when the international appetite for the conflict seems to be receding.
Mr. Brown was speaking four days after five British soldiers were killed by an Afghan policeman they were supposed to be mentoring in an attack that shook many Britons’ support for the eight-year war. Several British news organizations Friday quoted opinion surveys as saying the number of people favoring the early withdrawal of their troops had increased sharply in recent days.
So far, 230 British soldiers have died since the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001, seven of them in the past seven days. A spokeswoman at the international forces’ joint command in Kabul said Friday that two American soldiers were killed Thursday by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan but gave no further details. The deaths bring to three the number of United States service members killed in the Afghan war so far this month. October was the deadliest month of the war for American forces, with 59 deaths reported, according to icasualties.org, a Web site that tracks combat deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Mr. Brown reiterated that Britain could not afford to “walk away” from its role in the American-led NATO coalition. ”We cannot, must not and will not walk away.”
He continued, “If the Taliban insurgency succeeds in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda will once again cross the border and re-establish themselves in sanctuaries in Afghanistan from where they will plan, train and launch attacks on the rest of the world.”
Mr. Brown said he had spoken several times this week to Mr. Karzai, who had promised that the first action of his new government would be to tackle corruption.
“International support depends on the scale of his ambition and the degree of his achievement in five key areas: security, governance, reconciliation, economic development and engagement with Afghanistan’s neighbors,” Mr. Brown said.
He added, “If the government fails to meet these five tests, it will have not only failed its own people, it will have forfeited its right to international support.” .
Mr. Brown also echoed calls this week by senior Obama administration officials for Mr. Karzai and the Afghan government to put into place an anticorruption commission to establish strict accountability for officials at the national and provincial levels.
In addition, some American and European officials are pressing for at least a few arrests of what one administration official called “the more blatantly corrupt” people in the Afghan government.
Administration officials declined to provide the names of people they wanted to see arrested and acknowledged that such arrests were a long shot. The international community’s wish list of potential defendants includes Mr. Karzai’s brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, a suspected player in the country’s booming illegal opium trade; Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, who is accused of involvement in the killings of thousands of Taliban prisoners of war early in the Afghan conflict; and one of Mr. Karzai’s running mates, Marshal Muhammad Qasim Fahim, a former defense minister who is also suspected of drug trafficking.
Mr. Brown’s comments came one day after Kai Eide, the United Nations special representative to Afghanistan, also took a stern line toward the government, warning Mr. Karzai that unless he carried out sweeping reforms of his government, he would be at risk of losing the support of the international community.
Two days ago, Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, took a different tack, saying, “Karzai is corrupt, O.K.,” but adding that corruption was endemic in Afghanistan and that “he is our guy.”
“We have to legitimize him,” Mr. Kouchner said, if NATO were to have any chance to consolidate Afghanistan and then leave it.
Britain is the second-largest contributor to the coalition fighting the Taliban, with some 9,000 soldiers, compared with 68,000 Americans. But the steady increase of casualties is eroding public support for the conflict.
On Thursday, for instance, the body of Sgt. Olaf Schmid, 30, was flown back to Britain after he died trying to defuse a roadside bomb — one of the most lethal weapons in the Taliban’s arsenal.
As has now become the tradition, the body was driven through the Wiltshire village of Wootton Bassett, close to a military airfield used by flights to and from Afghanistan, on Thursday as a church bell pealed and mourners stood in silence, laying flowers on a hearse bearing a coffin draped in the red, white and blue union flag.
Such poignant moments, broadcast on national television, have raised public doubts about whether the war in Afghanistan can be won. Mr. Brown’s government insists that British troops will be able to withdraw only when Afghan forces are able to take over the campaign against the Taliban.
John F. Burns reported from London, and Alan Cowell from Paris.
Source: New York Times
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