Afghanistan to Form Major Anti-Corruption Unit
By VOA News
16 November 2009
The Afghan government says it will form a major anti-corruption unit to investigate graft among senior officials.
Afghan Interior Minister Hanif Atmar told reporters in Kabul Monday that security officials from the U.S. (FBI), Britain (Scotland Yard) and the European Union (ELOPE) will train prosecutors in the unit.
Mohammad Yasin Osmani, Afghanistan's head of the High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption, recently told VOA that the Afghan government should address the task of reducing corruption within the next six months.
He said that Afghan ministers must examine all of their employees in that time to determine whether they were hired based on merit or cronyism.
The Afghan president has come under increasing international pressure to fight corruption in his government since his disputed victory in a fraud-tainted election in August.
U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday terrorist networks like al-Qaida pose the "greatest threat" to U.S. security.
Mr. Obama said in Shanghai that the terrorist groups are dangerous because their militants have "no conscience" when killing innocent civilians.
The U.S. president has promised a decision soon on if or how he will reinforce the nearly 68,000 U.S. troops fighting militants in Afghanistan. U.S. officials have said a key issue for the president is the credibility of Afghan President Hamid Karzai as a partner in his country's war.
Meanwhile, Afghan police in volatile Kandahar province say militants have attacked a police checkpoint in southern Afghanistan, killing as many as eight police officers and wounding at least three others.
Police say militants assaulted the checkpoint overnight from several directions. Authorities say they are searching for the attackers.
And French forces northeast of Kabul say insurgents fired two rockets into a marketplace while a French general met with local leaders Monday. The attack killed at least three people, including children.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
