UK News - Brown to Karzai: Clean up your government

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Brown to Karzai: Clean up your government

LONDON (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned Afghan leaders he won't leave British troops in Afghanistan as long as government corruption exists.

In a speech given Friday to shore up wavering public opinion in Britain about the Afghan war by saying the conflict was a "necessity, not choice," Brown seemed to open the door for a possible exit strategy, The Times of London reported.

"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.

Unless Afghan President Hamid Karzai embraces reform and cleans up his government, he will have "forfeited" his right to international military intervention, Brown said.

A poll Thursday indicated opposition to the war has swelled in the last several weeks, The Times said. Only 33 percent of Britons polled for the Channel 4 News survey said they thought the war can be won, while 57 percent said they did not.

Brown said Britain was involved in the war in Afghanistan to defend itself against potential terrorist attacks.

"The biggest domestic threat continues to come from the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan. So it is right that our first line of defense is there," he said.

Brown also emphasized a need for unity among countries that sent troops to Afghanistan. British diplomatic and defense leaders have criticized U.S. President Barack Obama's deliberate pace on deciding a new strategy for Afghanistan.

"It is not the U.S. that is being tested in Afghanistan, nor Britain, but the international community," Brown said. "We must persist together; in our different ways we must all contribute. In the end we will succeed or fail together."

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

This news arrived on: 11/06/2009

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