Karzai: Afghanistan will control own security within five years

AFGHANISTAN will control its own security within five years and prosecute corrupt officials, President Hamid Karzai pledged yesterday in an inauguration speech made under intense pressure to shed the cronyism and graft that marked his government’s first term.

As Karzai vowed to make the country safer, an explosion in violent southern Afghanistan killed two US service members, NATO said. No civilians were believed to be hurt.

Karzai also said he wanted private Afghan and foreign security companies to stop operating in the country within two years.