WASHINGTON - President Obama on Monday admonished Afghan President Hamid Karzai that he must take on what U.S. officials have said he avoided during his first term: the rampant corruption and drug trade that has fueled the resurgence of the Taliban.
As Karzai was officially declared the winner of the much-disputed presidential election, Obama placed a congratulatory phone call in which he asked for a "new chapter" in the legitimacy of the Afghan government.
Obama told reporters afterward that what he is seeking is "a sense on the part of President Karzai that, after some difficult years in which there has been some drift, that in fact he's going to move boldly and forcefully forward and take advantage of the international community's interest in his country to initiate reforms internally."
The administration wants Karzai and the Afghan government to put into place an anticorruption commission to establish strict accountability for government officials at the national and provincial levels, senior administration officials said.
In addition, some U.S. and European officials would like at least a few arrests of what one administration official called "the more blatantly corrupt" people in the Afghan government.
Administration officials declined to provide the names of such people and acknowledged that such arrests were a long shot. The international community's wish list of potential defendants includes Karzai's brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, a suspected player in Afghanistan's illegal opium trade; Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, who is accused of involvement in the killings of thousands of Taliban prisoners of war, and Muhammad Qasim Fahim, a former defense minister who is also suspected of drug trafficking.
Obama administration officials said that the biggest leverage they have with Karzai is the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, a number that could change as Obama sees fit.
White House officials said Monday that the resolution of the election would not affect the timing of their review of military strategy.