U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Afghanistan on November 21 to attend the inauguration of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The visit marks an attempt of the U.S. and its allies to strengthen the legitimacy of the Afghan government following the fraudulent presidential elections last summer. In essence, this implies pressing Karzai to implement better governance and more effective means to fight corruption in order to win the Afghan people’s support and alienate the Taliban. Most importantly, the visit highlights the need for a properly balanced political, military and economic approach to the overall campaign on the ground as the U.S. administration is still deciding whether to deploy additional troops in Afghanistan.

Hillary Clinton arrived in Kabul on the eve of President Hamid Karzai’s inauguration scheduled for November 22. About 800 guests and more than 40 dignitaries from around the world were invited to attend the ceremony, including the President of Pakistan Asif Zardari, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, British Foreign Minister David Miliband, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, and NATO’s Secretary-General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

“There is now a clear window of opportunity for President Karzai and his government to make a new compact with the people of Afghanistan to demonstrate that now there will be accountability and tangible results to improve the lives of people throughout this country”, Clinton told U.S. Embassy staff upon her arrival. Clinton then met with U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry and the commander of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal. She subsequently had dinner with Karzai.

McChrystal had earlier requested up to 40,000 additional troops, while Eikenberry, in turn, questioned the utility of sending more forces amidst unstable political circumstances. There are now 65,000 U.S. and 39,000 allied troops on the ground, but the Taliban is on the offensive, Pakistan has turned into an unstable ally and domestic U.S. support for the war has been on the decline. Karzai’s rigged August 20 elections and rampant corruption have also undermined the legitimacy of allied efforts. On top of this is added an annual drug-generated income estimated at US$70-100 million, McCrfeeding drug and war lords, terrorists and officials.

Clearly, guns and bullets are not a panacea for success, let alone a victory, in Afghanistan. A military component of the strategy needs to be complemented by substantial political, civilian and economic efforts. Clinton indeed stated that “nobody knows better than our military commanders that troops alone cannot meet our goals of defeating al-Qaida, of helping the Afghans get the capacity to defend themselves and provide governance that will result in positive changes for the people of this country”.

Clinton further raised serious concerns about corruption and its effects on governance – something the international community has been pressuring Karzai to deal with persistently. “We believe that President Karzai and his government can do better”, Clinton stated. Karzai himself underlined that the development of the Afghan state requires serious measures against corruption and the drug industry. But while recognizing these problems, Karzai is quick to point out that the international contracting process in Afghanistan is corrupt and that foreign aid gets wasted before reaching the Afghans.

According to a senior U.S. official, the U.S. administration is already discussing concrete “benchmarks” with the Afghan government, which the latter will need to achieve in order to receive payments and aid from the U.S. He was also quoted to add that the U.S. “wants an Afghan-led process to fight corruption”. Transparency International recently ranked Afghanistan as the second most corrupt country in the world after Somalia.

Clinton also emphasized that the U.S. wants to see a “credible anti-corruption governmental entity” in Afghanistan. “They’ve done some work on that, but in our view, not nearly enough to demonstrate a seriousness of purpose to tackle corruption.” The Afghan government already announced its plans to form special bodies to investigate and prosecute cases of corruption.

The formation of the new cabinet will demonstrate Karzai’s commitment to reforms. The Afghan president in his inauguration speech already invited his major opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, to join the government. Clinton raised questions, however, about Karzai naming Northern Alliance leader Muhammad Fahim as one of his two vice-presidents and forming a political alliance with General Abdul Rashid Dostum. U.S. officials believe the former has been involved in drug trade, while the latter is a warlord suspected of wide-scale corruption.

Hillary Clinton’s visit to Afghanistan is an effort to both bolster support among the Afghan people for the Karzai Government, which has a tenuous legitimacy amidst widespread corruption, a booming drug industry, Taliban resurgency and warlordism, and to pressure Karzai to enact effective reforms, improve governance and tackle corruption. How to complement the military and political parts of the overall strategy in Afghanistan with a reinforced economic component should now occupy the minds of the U.S. administration as it ponders over the need for additional troop deployments in Afghanistan.