Afghan president vows to fight corruption, bring reforms

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai Friday vowed to fight corruption and bring reforms to ensure good governance in the country.

"We are committed to fight corruption and bring reforms to ensure good governance," the president said at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron in the Presidential Palace here.

Ahmadzai, who assumed office Monday, has already instructed the authorities to fight against corruption, saying he would begin reforms from the Presidential Palace, a step that has been widely welcomed by Afghans.

In a major step to fight corruption, the president ordered the Attorney General's Office to resume investigation of the Kabul Bank scandal case and bring to justice all those responsible for bringing to the verge of collapse in 2010 the first private bank in the war-damaged country.

The Afghan president also thanked Britain and all other countries for supporting Afghanistan over the past 13 years and urged the continued support of the international community for the militancy-plagued nation, Xinhua reported.

In his remarks at the press conference, Cameron assured his government's support for Afghanistan, saying Britain would continue to provide 178 million British pounds to Afghanistan annually until 2017.

The British prime minister is the first foreign dignitary to visit Afghanistan after Ghani assumed office.

Cameron also said British troops would not return to Afghanistan after leaving for home at the end of the year.

However, he added that some service members would remain to train Afghan security forces.

Cameron, who has visited Afghanistan 13 times, expressed confidence in the capability of the Afghan national security forces, saying Afghan forces were capable enough to ensure the country's security after the pullout of the NATO-led forces from the country at the end of the year when their combat mission would be over.

However, he stated that the countries that had supported Afghanistan over the past decade would continue to back the country in future.