No blank cheque to Karzai, says White House

Noting that the Barack Obama administration is keeping a close watch on the Hamid Karzai government, the White House on Wednesday said that the Afghanistan president should not expect a blank cheque in his second term.

"I think you heard the President speak clearly at West Point (at New York in December 2009) and since then about the need to take governance seriously; that there was not an open-ended blank cheque for waste and abuse going forward in Afghanistan," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said at a news conference.

Gibbs said President Obama and his team, and particularly US Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, would be paying close attention to the developments in the troubled country. Earlier, the US President had said that the days of blank cheques were over, while announcing his new Afghan policy on December 2 last year.

"This effort must be based on performance. The days of providing a blank cheque are over. President Karzai's inauguration speech sent the right message about moving in a new direction," Obama said, adding that strings would be now attached to the US assistance.

America would continue to support Afghans in their fight against corruption, but it expected those ineffective or corrupt to be held accountable, he added.