President Barack Obama convened his Afghan war cabinet on Monday as new reports cast doubt on the US strategy to convince President Hamid Karzai to purge his government of corruption. Obama met his team in the secure Situation Room of the White House for an update on military developments in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as his troop surge reaches a new pitch of intensity.
The president was also briefed on Pakistan's fight against widespread floods and the humanitarian disaster they have triggered. Obama's meeting took place in the wake of reports that the US bid to tackle corruption in Afghanistan - a vital part of the plan to build a sustainable government in the country - were foundering.
Earlier, in the latest report to question the progress of the US effort to crackdown on corruption in Afghanistan, The Washington Post said Obama aides had concluded they must adopt a more subtle approach. The White House said in a statement that the US ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, briefed the president on "efforts to support enhanced governance and accountability" and on the upcoming Afghan parliamentary polls.
General David Petraeus, the US military chief in Afghanistan, told the president that US forces were "now at the highest operational tempo to date" and challenging established Taliban strongholds and leadership. US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson meanwhile brought Obama up to date on the flood relief operation, including the work of US military assets in a disaster that has affected more than 21 million people.
Eikenberry, Petraeus and Patterson testified by video conference. The Washington Post said the Obama administration was considering changing its tack because efforts to promote US-style corruption fighting had caused a rift with Karzai.
Citing unnamed US civilian and military officials involved in Afghanistan policy, the newspaper said Obama's top national security advisers would discuss the problem this week.
"The current approach is not tenable," the Post quoted one administration official as saying. "What will we get out of it? We'll arrest a few mid-level Afghans, but we'll lose our ability to operate there and achieve our principal goals." The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the report, and would not say whether problems with tackling corruption were discussed at Monday's meeting. But last week, Obama vowed to always press the need to fight corruption with Karzai. Obama said that every time he talks to Karzai, he reminds him that the "only way you are going to have a stable government over the long term is if the Afghan people feel you are looking out for them."