Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) “arrived in Kabul on Tuesday for another tough diplomatic mission to smooth over newly strained relations between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Obama administration,” McClatchy reports.
Ten months after he played a pivotal role in persuading Karzai to agree to a runoff after a corruption-plagued presidential vote, Kerry returned to the Afghan capital with a firm new message: Karzai must allow the country’s new anti-corruption departments to do their job.
"President Karzai and his government need to understand that there is no patience for endless support for something that doesn’t meet higher standards with respect to governance," Kerry told a small group of reporters between meetings with the Afghan leader.
Kerry is seeking assurances from Karzai that he’ll allow the anti-corruption groups to make headway on one of the more thorny issues the two countries face.
"I think that (in) the next days, the government of Afghanistan’s response to anti-corruption efforts are a key test of its ability to regain the confidence of the people and provide the kind of governance that the American people are prepared to support," Kerry said.
(credit image – daylife/associated press)
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