11/3/2009 5:20 AM ET
(RTTNews) -
Hamid Karzai, who was re-elected Afghan President Monday, promised to form a government of 'national unity' that will eradicate what he called "the stain" of corruption.
Addressing the first news conference of his second term Tuesday, Karzai said his new cabinet would include representatives from all of Afghanistan's ethnic groups, but did not specify if his main challenger in the election, Abdullah Abdullah would be one among them.
He paved the way to end the more-than-two-months-old political stalemate in Afghanistan Sunday by withdrawing from the run-off set for November 7, alleging possible fraud and partiality in the second round of polling.
As the constitution doesn't permit a runoff without the participation of two candidates, and because Karzai won the most votes in the first round on August 20, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) declared Karzai elected after it canceled a second round.
Karzai's pledge to fight corruption comes a day after his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama urged him to begin a 'new chapter' for his country by initiating reforms and cracking down on graft and speed up the training of Afghan security forces.
In an apparent reference to Obama's statement Monday that "Karzai would be judged on deeds, not words," the Afghan President said: "Our government has been seriously discredited by administrative corruption."
In an attempt in vain, Karzai called on "Taliban brothers," who have been unleashing frequent attacks against civilians as well as military forces in Afghanistan, to "embrace their land."
by RTT Staff Writer
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