Frattini hails Karzai corruption pledge
Foreign minister in Kabul to see Afghanistan president sworn in
19 November, 15:42
(ANSA) - Kabul, November 19 - Newly re-elected
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai's inaugural address on
Thursday hit all the right chords, according to Italian Foreign
Minister Franco Frattini.In Kabul to see the president sworn in for his second term, Frattini said Karzai discussed ''a great many themes close to Italy's heart,'' a pledge to fight corruption foremost among them. Widespread graft and cronyism in the country has greatly eroded NATO allies' faith in Karzai's ability to guide the country towards a stable democracy. Hailing his promise to ''uproot'' corruption in Afghanistan, Frattini said Italy could help set up a sorely needed anti-corruption watchdog.
''Afghanistan needs a series of safeguards to protect sensitive areas like public tenders,'' said Frattini. ''We've trained hundreds of public officials in Iraq and we can do the same thing here''. Frattini also urged the Afghanistan president to strike a truce with his defeated political rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.
Karzai was proclaimed the winner of a fraud-tainted August election last month after Abdullah withdrew from a runoff called by international monitors.
Abdullah said he quit the race for lack of faith in the government's ability to hold fair elections, a move which undermined the credibility of Karzai's victory.
''I think it's necessary to get Abdullah involved in the government somehow to avoid a permanent rift between the two parties,'' Frattini said.
Karzai also proposed beginning a five-year transition period during which coalition forces would gradually scale down their troop presence, handing over the reins of national security at the end of five years.
Frattini welcomed the proposal, subsequently denying that Italy had any intention of sending more troops to Afghanistan. ''We haven't been asked to and, more importantly, don't see a concrete necessity,'' he said.
The foreign minister pointed out that Italy had the third largest contingent of any country in Europe, behind the United Kingdom and Germany.
''We feel like we've already contributed a lot,'' said Frattini.
Italy has lost 22 soldiers with the NATO-led ISAF mission out of some 2,800 deployed, in addition to 400 sent to Afghanistan for the presidential elections.
Frattini added that the next international summit on Afghanistan should be held in Kabul and that in order to avoid a ''hash up'', it was best to ''postpone the summit for when we have a clearer idea what its objectives should be''.
''We've held a lot of meetings in the Hague, Rome and Paris, and things in Afghanistan never change,'' said Frattini.
The foreign minister added that ''talking about Afghanistan in another country gives the impression that we're afraid of going there''.
