Perriello calls for anti-corruption efforts in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON—Political corruption in Afghanistan is the top national security threat in the increasingly violent country, Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Va., said Thursday.

Perriello, who served as an independent national security consultant in Afghanistan before joining Congress this week, praised U.S. troops for their seven-year campaign against Taliban forces.

But if troops continue “to operate in a…toxic political environment, we will get nowhere,“ he said at a United States Institute of Peace panel discussion that included Gen. David Petraeus.

As head of U.S. Central Command, Petraeus oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,

“We need to couple an increase in troop presence with what I call an ‘accountability offensive’,“ said Perriello, 34, calling for anti-corruption efforts backed by the military.

The U.S. military is adding 20,000 troops to combat growing violence in Afghanistan. More U.S. troops, 151, died in Afghanistan in 2008 than in any other year since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban.

A report released Thursday by the Institute for Peace, a non-partisan anti-war group established by Congress, encouraged President-elect Barack Obama to refocus the war and rebuilding effort in Afghanistan and predicted it would take a decade to complete the work.

U.S. officials, including Petraeus, have warned the violence will likely intensify in 2009. Obama has called for troop increases in Afghanistan.

Petraeus said Thursday dealing with challenges in Afghanistan will require a more regional approach.

“Afghanistan and Pakistan have, in many ways, merged into a single problem set, and the way forward in Afghanistan is incomplete without a strategy that includes and assists Pakistan,“ and also takes into account Pakistan’s troubled relationship with rival India, Petraeus said.

Petraeus is expected to present a review of the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan to Obama the week after the new president is sworn in to office.

President George W. Bush’s in-house Iraq and Afghanistan adviser has already done a separate assessment; it has not been made public.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.