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UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown - Source: Reuters -
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Afghan President Hamid Karzai, winner of a fraud-tainted election, risks losing British and international support unless he acts decisively to fight corruption, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said.
Brown, seeking to bolster dwindling public backing at home for keeping British troops in Afghanistan, said Karzai must pass five key tests.
He listed them as fighting corruption, building up Afghan security forces, promoting reconciliation, encouraging economic development and fostering closer cooperation with Pakistan.
"If the government fails to meet these five tests, it will have not only failed its own people, it will have forfeited its right to international support," Brown said in a speech at the Royal College of Defence Studies in London.
"I am not prepared to put the lives of British men and women in harm's way for a government that does not stand up against corruption," Brown said in the toughest public message he has sent to Karzai.
Karzai's controversial re-election and rising losses among Britain's 9,000-strong force in Afghanistan have led many in Britain to ask why the British troops are there. More than 60% of Britons polled by YouGov recently wanted British troops out within a year.
Seven British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan in the last week - including five shot dead by an Afghan policeman - bringing total British deaths there to 230 since 2001.
Election issue
Continuing loss of British lives in Afghanistan could damage Brown's Labour Party in an election he must call by next June and which the opposition Conservatives are favourites to win.
Brown said Karzai had agreed with him in a telephone conversation on Thursday that his government's priority would be to take "decisive action" against corruption.
In an interview with GMTV earlier on Friday, Brown said he had told Karzai "here are the things you've got to do".
"You've got to set up an anti-corruption commission ... You can have international advisers on this so that we can monitor what's happening," Brown said.
"All contracts have got to be given fairly and you've got to have a serious crimes tribunal. All your ministers have got to be vetted as to whether they have corrupt backgrounds," Brown said, using a brisk tone and referring to the Afghan leader simply as Karzai, rather than President Karzai.
"If you don't do this then it is difficult for us to give you the support that you want," Brown said.
Brown avoided the question however when asked repeatedly what sanction Britain might take against Karzai if he did not carry out Brown's demands.
Government sources say it is unlikely Britain would cut off development aid to Afghanistan if Karzai did not implement reforms, but they suggest Britain could stop giving financial aid to a ministry that was ineptly run.
Brown defended his strategy in Afghanistan, insisting British troops were there to protect Britain from terrorism.
"We have got to be there to make sure that we can prevent al Qaeda gaining power in Pakistan and Afghanistan," he told GMTV.
He stood firmly by the strategy he believes Britain and other allies must pursue in Afghanistan - expanding training of Afghan security forces so they can eventually take over responsibilities from foreign forces.
"We cannot, must not and will not walk away," he said.
