Karzai pledges to root out corruption

Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai promised in his inauguration speech today that he will prosecute corrupt government officials.

Mr Karzai knows he is being closely watched by the international community for signs that his administration is moving beyond the cronyism and graft of the past five years.

He has come under intense international pressure to clean up his government, but has often bristled at criticism of corruption from Western powers.

After being sworn in to a second five-year term today, Mr Karzai said his government was doing whatever it could to implement reforms, and pledged that Afghan forces would be able to take control of the country’s security in the next five years.

He also said he believed the “problem of international terrorism” in Afghanistan would be overcome.

Mr Karzai said: “We are trying our best to implement social, judicial and administrative reforms in our country.

“Being a president is a heavy task and we will try our best to honestly fulfill this task in the future.”

The ceremony was attended by about 800 Afghan and foreign dignitaries from more than 40 countries.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari and British Foreign Minister David Miliband were among them.

Mr Karzai said a conference would be held soon in Kabul to address ways to tackle corruption, and his government would take its fight against drug trafficking seriously.

“Those who spread corruption should be tried and prosecuted,” he said. “Corruption is a very dangerous enemy of the state.”

The president insisted he would select “expert ministers” capable of providing competent leadership.

Mr Karzai won this year’s fraud-tainted presidential election by default, after his main rival Abdullah Abdullah pulled out of a run-off, saying it was impossible for the vote to be fair.

During his speech, the president welcomed Afghans representing all tribes and ethnicities who turned out for his inauguration and said it demonstrated national unity.

He also thanked the other presidential candidates who ran in the election and invited them to contribute to the new government.

“People should know that only the votes of the people can legitimise the government,” Mr Karzai said.

Seeking to portray himself as a unifying force in the country, Mr Karzai said: “I am the servant of all the people of Afghanistan, from every ethnicity, every tribe, from every place, from every province – from every age, whether they are small children, whether they are old people, women – I invite all the presidential candidates to come and help in serving this nation.”