* Work with Karzai, but seek out other ministers * Focus will be on tackling corruption * Tough message to Karzai By Sue Pleming WASHINGTON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - The United States will exert firm pressure on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to govern better in a second term but also plans to seek out ministers and other officials with a record of tackling corruption, said U.S. officials and diplomats. Karzai is set for another term after key rival Abdullah Abdullah pulled out on Sunday from the Nov. 7 run-off, saying his demands had not been met for a fair vote, and casting a pall over the legitimacy of the next government. For months, Washington has been looking at how best to turn around what many see as a weak, corrupt Afghan government that U.S. commanders say helped to fuel the insurgency. While unrealistic to bypass Karzai -- such a move would backfire -- U.S. officials and diplomats say there are ways to work around him if needed and target cabinet members, governors and others not seen as complicit in corruption and who could offer what is often referred to as "good enough" governance. "There is no way you can bypass him (Karzai) but we want to target those institutions and interlocutors who are trying to fight corruption," said a senior U.S. official. "If we can strengthen people who are trying to stamp out corruption then we will be able to make a difference on the ground," added the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the issue is sensitive. The White House has made clear in its Afghanistan strategy review that it needs a credible partner to work with and Karzai must govern more effectively if he wants to be seen as legitimate both at home and by those nations propping him up. Obama asked for a detailed accounting of each of Afghanistan's provinces and how well they are being run by governors, tribal leaders and militias. FRANK CONVERSATIONS U.S. and other Western officials have had some frank conversations with Karzai in recent weeks about what he must do to keep their backing, which is harder to sustain as American public opinion turns against the eight-year war. One message, said a U.S. official, has been not to pack key Afghan ministries -- including the interior, defense and finance departments -- with cronies who backed him during the election, whose first round was marred by vote-rigging. "Karzai will have a lot of political debts as he emerges from the election and he will want to pay them off by giving them ministries which will put him directly in conflict with the U.S. and other members of the international community," said Daniel Markey, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, who was in Afghanistan in recent days. Zalmay Khalilzad, a friend of Karzai and former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, has also been pushing this point in recent meetings with the incumbent Afghan president. "He (Karzai) needs to team up with people who do better and we need to use more leverage," said Khalilzad. "From here on, our assistance has to be benchmarked in terms of performance by the government," said Khalilzad. KARZAI'S BROTHER Several experts said that also meant Karzai reining in his brother, who is accused of being a drug kingpin in Afghanistan. According to the New York Times, he has also been in the pay of the Central Intelligence Agency for the past eight years, an allegation the Obama administration refused to confirm."If we are going to pursue a real counter-insurgency strategy, then we have to move away from some of these expedient alliances we have had," said Afghanistan expert Max Boot of Karzai's brother. "Ahmed Wali Karzai is a symbol of that expediency and we have to work out how to sideline him without losing some of the stability he has brought to Kandahar," said Boot. "We have to work out how to ease him out without having Kandahar explode into violence." The New York Times said Karzai's brother had been paid by the CIA for services that included helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary force that operates at the CIA's direction in and around the southern city of Kandahar. The Obama administration has had a complex relationship with Karzai and its special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, had heated meetings with the Afghan president while he was there in August, particularly over tackling corruption. But Boot said the strategy of tough-love and ostracizing Karzai had back-fired and there needed to be another approach -- give Karzai support but also work alongside other cabinet members who could improve governance in the country. "We can work with the guy, he is not evil," said Boot. (Reporting by Sue Pleming, editing by Jackie Frank)
Residents gather on the rubble of a girls' school in Bara in Pakistan's troubled Khyber Agency located in North West Frontier Province, after it was destroyed early morning November 1, 2009. ...
