Clinton urges Afghan gov't to 'do better'
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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday that Afghan President Hamid Karzai must do better for US support, adding that the Obama administration would convince the American people that the war in Afghanistan can be won.
"We've delivered that message. Now that the election is finally over, we're looking to see tangible evidence that the government, led by the president but going all the way down to the local level, will be more responsive to the needs of the people," said Clinton in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos.
"We are not going to be providing any civilian aid to Afghanistan unless we have certification that if it goes into the Afghan government in any form, that we are going to have ministries that we can hold accountable," said Clinton, when asked how the Obama administration will ensure sending more troops to Afghanistan is not a waste of lives and money.
According to Clinton, who is accompanying President Obama in Asia for visit, the Obama administration has been trying to "create an atmosphere in which the blood and treasure that the United States has committed to Afghanistan can be justified and can produce the kind of results that we're looking for."
Obama is expected to announce a new strategy for Afghanistan, including sending up to 40,000 more troops to fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida terror networks in the country. By the end of this year, according to previous deployment plans, there will a total of 68,000 US troops in Afghanistan.
Critics, including US Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, warn that sending more troops to Afghanistan would be a waste of American lives and money and would boost Kabul's reliance on US troops unless Karzai can really improve ability to tackle his government's corruption and mismanagement.
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