Afghanistan to form anti-graft unit as pressure grows

By Jonathon Burch

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan will form a new anti-corruption unit to investigate high-level graft after widespread criticism and demands from Washington for it to do more amid a wider regional strategy review.

The announcement, which included a major crime unit, comes a day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton bluntly warned that President Hamid Karzai and his government must do better, saying Washington wanted to see tangible evidence of Kabul's fight against rampant corruption.

On Monday, three days before Karzai was due to be sworn in for another five-year term, the government said it would set up a new body to tackle corruption and other crime.

Afghanistan has made similar announcements in the past, although previous efforts have borne little fruit.

"President Hamid Karzai ... has dedicated his five years to fighting corruption," Interior Minister Hanif Atmar, flanked by U.S. ambassador Karl Eikenberry and British ambassador Mark Sedwill, told reporters at a news briefing in Kabul on Monday.

The new anti-corruption unit, part of the Attorney General's department, would be formed to prosecute public corruption cases involving high-level officials and other major crimes, the Interior Ministry said later in a statement.

However Afghan officials gave few other details about the new unit and answered only a handful of questions.

Ambassador Eikenberry said the issue needed to be taken seriously.

"(Corruption) requires action. Words are cheap. Deeds are required," he said.

Analysts feared the new anti-corruption might just be a knee-jerk reaction to Western criticism, or be used to settle political scores.

"On the one hand they are responding to the international demands to do more against corruption, but we will have to wait until they become active and come up with results," Thomas Ruttig, co-director of independent research organization Afghan Analysts Network, told Reuters.

Attention has focused on the legitimacy of Karzai's new government after a fraud-marred election in August, with U.S. President Barack Obama still to decide on a new strategy for Afghanistan that might include sending up to 40,000 more troops.

RAMPANT CORRUPTION

Karzai fell out of favor with many in the West before the August 20 election, his government seen as riddled with corruption.

Karzai and Finance Minister Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal have railed at the increasingly trenchant criticism from the West since Karzai's re-election was confirmed earlier this month despite findings of widespread vote fraud.