Hamid Karzai offers to 'spare no effort' in implementing the revamped strategy, but says little about fighting corruption in his government.

L.A.TIMES
President Hamid Karzai today pledged to "spare no effort" to help implement the revamped American war strategy but did not directly respond to U.S. demands that he root out corruption in his government.

The Taliban, meanwhile, scoffed at the goals laid out by President Obama in a major speech on Tuesday night, insisting that the insurgency would grow only stronger in the face of an American troop buildup that is to begin within weeks.

Some senior officials in Karzai's government expressed misgivings as to whether the Afghan army and police could be adequately strengthened in time to accommodate a drawdown of foreign troops beginning in July 2011, the goal set by Obama.

"In 18 months we will not be able to grow [the security forces] as much as required given the security needs of the country," said Interior Minister Mohamad Hanif Atmar, who met with the top American commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, shortly after Obama delivered his speech.

However, Atmar and other Afghan officials expressed hopes that the timetable laid out by the U.S. administration would help provide momentum for building up Afghanistan's police and army, and noted Obama's assurances that the American drawdown would be a phased one, tied to conditions on the ground.

McChrystal also met today with Karzai and described him as "very upbeat, very resolute" about implementing the Obama plan.

But the Afghan leader was largely silent in response to Obama's crisp demand for reforms in his government -- a refrain that has been sounded repeatedly by senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who traveled to Afghanistan last month for Karzai's inauguration to a second term.

In a statement issued a full 12 hours after Obama's speech, the presidential palace said the Karzai administration would work toward "strengthening of the Afghan government in law enforcement" but said nothing else about promised efforts to crack down on graft and bribery.

Corruption has been a highly charged issue between Karzai's administration and the West. The Afghan president is expected to name his Cabinet in the next 10 days.

Western officials have said the lineup of ministers will give an indication as to whether the Karzai is ready to withhold key posts from those implicated in past wrongdoing.

Many Afghans expressed relief over Obama's commitment to send 30,000 more American soldiers, saying the country is under serious threat from the insurgency.

"Sending more troops is a good idea, because they have to help curb Al Qaeda and the Taliban," Kabul businessman Abdul Kafil said. "Otherwise they will recapture the country."