Afghan aid must not fuel corruption

The United States and NATO have more than 100,000 troops in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban.

The international community must make sure that aid and development projects in Afghanistan do not fuel corruption there, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said Friday.

- The reality is that the international presence in Afghanistan has provided a significant influx of assistance dollars and contracts and so on - Gates told reporters ahead of an international defense summit.

- So it seems to me that the place for us to start is to deal with corruption that may be associated with contracts we're letting or work that we're having done and development projects that we're undertaking in partnership with others including with the Afghans - he said.

- I think the place to start is the place where we have the greatest leverage and that's where we're writing the checks. -

Gates's comments at a joint press conference with Canada's defense minister follow the inauguration on Thursday of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who now faces intense pressure to stem corruption in his country.

The defense secretary's stance echoed that of Secretary of States Hillary Clinton, who this week in Kabul said that donor countries should be responsible for where their money goes, she said the United States was working to track development aid.

- As we call for accountability from others, we will hold ourselves accountable as well - she said.

Karzai has earned the opprobrium of the international community since a fraud-tainted election highlighted the massive levels of official corruption in Afghanistan.

He pledged to clean up corruption, eradicate drug production and trafficking, work towards ending a Taliban-led insurgency, and see that Afghan security forces can take over from international forces in five years.

The United States and NATO have more than 100,000 troops in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban, which has become more virulent in recent months, with foreign troop deaths nearing 500 this year alone.