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Clinton: Afghan election needs to yield 'results'

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-11-19 16:03

KABUL: US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that the international community will support the embattled Afghan government, but expects it to build up the country's defense forces, boost security and improve the lives of its impoverished people.

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Clinton met at the heavily fortified US Embassy with foreign ministers from about a dozen nations who are in the capital to attend Thursday's inauguration of Hamid Karzai, who won a second presidential term following an election marred by fraud.

She met with Karzai for about 90 minutes Wednesday night at the presidential palace.

"I think that there's a very clear understanding, on the part of not only President Karzai but his government, that results of this election have to be seen and felt in the lives of the people of Afghanistan," she said, sitting in a circle of chairs with diplomatic officials from Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, Japan and a host of other nations.

She said the Karzai government understands the international community is "willing to support and encourage the next years of effort of the people and government of Afghanistan, but that we expect outcomes that deliver on security, the buildup of an Afghan national security force as well as a national police force, tangible benefits that flow to the people of Afghanistan and an accountable, transparent government - as far as that can be obtained - as well as a strong stand against corruption."

The meeting, hosted by US Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, came before the diplomats were to leave for the palace to attend the inaugural, being held under tight security in the capital.

Clinton said in her conversations with some members of Karzai's Cabinet, she was reassured by the work that was being done in the ministries of agriculture, education, intelligence and finance. Karzai has not announced members of his new Cabinet.

Before entering the meeting, Clinton joked with reporters, telling them they needed to try Afghanistan's pomegranate juice.

"It lowers your cholesterol," she said.

Afghanistan officials hope the export of its pomegranates will raise the sweet, red fruit's cachet and provide its farmers with a lucrative alternative to growing opium, a raw ingredient in heroin. The US has funded an initiative to modernize and expand Afghanistan's pomegranate industry, which has long depended on domestic sales and small-scale exports to nearby countries.