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"We have said that it's time for action, for the Afghan government to address this problem of corruption, and that we stand prepared to work with them and support them as they address this," a State Department spokesman said.

Ian Kelly told reporters at his daily press conference on Tuesday: "We welcome the announcement that we saw of the formation of the major crimes task force." He added the task force being formed with US and British support would investigate and prosecute major anticorruption, kidnapping and organized crime cases. 

"As I say, there are American and British law-enforcement officials who are helping from the FBI and the British Serious and Organised Crime Agency," said the spokesman, who also hailed the Attorney Generals recently established anti-corruption unit. 

"Then we also welcome the announcement by Chief Justice Azimi of another important institution, the National Anti-Corruption Tribunal, which will be designed to set up serious corruption cases throughout Afghanistan," Kelly observed.

He continued the US was looking for more information on the Anti-Corruption Tribunal. "We will look forward to getting more details about how it intends to operate, what kind of cases it intends to prosecute." 

The spokesman argued: Its actions that are important, and so well be monitoring it closely. And of course, we stand ready to help, too, in whatever way we can. But I think that these are some of the early signs of the kinds of tangible steps that we need to see to demonstrate that the Afghan government is serious about tackling corruption.  But its fair to say that we welcome these steps, but a lot will depend on the implementation."

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