Karzai vows to fight corruption, reaches out to Taliban

Tue Nov 3, 2009

President Hamid Karzai vows to uproot corruption following his re-election in Afghanistan's fraud-tainted presidential vote, urging his Taliban 'brothers' to come home.

"Afghanistan has been defamed by corruption. Our government has been defamed by corruption," Karzai told a press conference on Tuesday. "We will strive, by any means possible, to eradicate this stain," he vowed.

The pledge came just hours after US President Barack Obama demanded Karzai, in a phone conversation, to boost efforts 'to eradicate corruption' and called for a 'new chapter' in bilateral ties between Washington and Kabul.

Karzai, repeatedly accused by Taliban leaders of being a puppet in the hands of the US government, offered the militants the olive branch, calling on the "Taliban brothers to come home and embrace their land."

Karzai whose legitimacy is shaken by an electoral committee's investigation result, which discarded over a million of his votes from the August 20 election, on Monday was declared the winner of Afghanistan's presidential race.

Afghan election officials canceled a presidential run-off vote after Karzai's only rival Abdullah Abdullah's withdrew over serious concerns about the election process.

Commenting on the former foreign minister's step-down, Karzai said Abdullah's participation “would have been better for our country, for the democratic process and for us."

Karzai's return seems to alleviate Obama's concerns over whether to send up to 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan, where nearly eight years of foreign military presence has failed to wipe out Taliban-linked violence and bloodshed in the war-torn country.

Washington is in a critical position for deciding how to cope with the current situation in the war-torn country.

Obama has been dithering about a decision over a request by the US top commander in Afghanistan who has called for the troops surge to tackle the deteriorating security.

Despite a warm welcome from the West, the Taliban has condemned Karzai's return a farce and vowed to continue its fight to drive foreign forces out of Afghanistan.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/110318.html.