Karzai downplays government corruption

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KABUL, Afghanistan, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Corruption within the Afghan government is not as pervasive as the international community suggests, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his latest report on Afghanistan to the Security Council warned that corruption in the Afghan government plagues development.

"There is a need for a change of mindset in the international community as well as in the government of Afghanistan," he said. "Without that change, the prospects of success will diminish further."

During a Kabul meeting with academics from the international community, Karzai acknowledged corruption is an issue in his government but said it is not as pandemic as observers believe.

"The president said there was corruption in the government departments but not to the scale the international community claims. The Afghan government is firmly committed, he said, in fighting the problem," a statement from his office read.

Panelists at the Kabul conference called on the Afghan president to address the matter during a London conference later this month.

Karzai said he welcomed the suggestion and gave assurances that Afghanistan was an honest broker with the international community. He cautioned, however, that "an effective and concerted response" was needed from world leaders to address the many challenges in Afghanistan.

London hosts an international conference on Afghanistan on Jan. 28.