FACTBOX-Britain's five tests for Afghanistan's Karzai
LONDON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai's new government risks losing international support unless it meets five key tests, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Friday. Brown outlined the tests in a speech in London.
SECURITY
The expansion and training of the Afghan army and police must be the new government's priority, Brown said.
The Afghan army should be expanded to 134,000 men by November of next year. To achieve this Afghanistan must provide up to 5,000 army recruits a month. The international community would help with funding and training, but the Afghan government must find the recruits, Brown said.
GOVERNANCE
The government of Afghanistan had become a by-word for corruption, Brown said.
He called for a new anti-corruption law and for the creation of a new anti-corruption commission with powers of investigation and prosecution. He said the commission should appoint an international adviser and there should also be new rules for the more transparent award of contracts. The new government's appointments of cabinet ministers and provincial governors must be based on merit and the flaws exposed in the presidential election must be rectified before next year's Afghan parliamentary election, he said.
RECONCILIATION
Brown called for a process to bring people who rejected violence back into the political fold. A government source said this meant bringing "moderate members of the insurgency" back into the political mainstream.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
The British Prime Minister called for "an ambitious but realistic plan" for economic development to give the Afghan people a stake in the future. Farmers should be encouraged to grow wheat rather than opium poppies.
Karzai's government must deliver safe drinking water, reliable electricity, schooling for girls as well as for boys, and accessible primary health care centres, he said.
REGIONAL PARTNERSHIPS
Relations between the leaderships of Afghanistan and Pakistan were better than for many years, but this had yet to translate into closer cooperation between key institutions, Brown said.
"The problems of terrorism and extremism straddle borders; so too must the solutions," he said.
(For a story on Brown's speech, click on [ID:nL6688443])
(Reporting by Adrian Croft; Editing by Michael Roddy)
