How committed is Karzai to taking on corruption?

It’s either that Afghanistan’s president, Hamid Karzai, doesn’t share the Obama administration’s sense of urgency in ending corruption in his country, or he’s powerless to do anything about it.

Either position is unacceptable. The government in Kabul has been corrupted by cronyism and thievery, while the recent presidential election spotlighted the extent of the lawlessness.

President Obama has warned Karzai that the United States is unwilling to give Afghanistan a blank check when it comes to aid, and has also said the U.S. will support Afghan ministries, governors and local leaders who combat corruption.

“We expect those who are ineffective or corrupt to be held accountable,” the president said recently.

Karzai apparently did not discern the urgency behind Obama’s warning.

As the Associated Press reported this week, Karzai’s promise to fight the rampant graft and bribery plaguing his government has hit a road bump.

The mayor of Kabul, Abdul Ahad Sahebi, was found guilty Monday of awarding a contract for a city project without competition. An Afghan court sentenced him to four years in jail and ordered him to repay more than $16,000 involved in the contract.

Despite the conviction, Sahebi refused to step down as mayor — even though prosecutors had threatened to send police to have him removed.

And what of Karzai, who has called for an end to a “culture of impunity?” He was disturbingly silent about the corrupt mayor.

It was a clear demonstration of president’s unwillingness to aggressively go after corrupt government officials.

The mayor, who is free pending his appeal to a higher court, insisted he is innocent.

Conspiracy?

“I don’t accept the court’s decision,” Sahebi told The Associated Press in his office on Wednesday. “There is a conspiracy against me.”

He said he has asked members of parliament, the attorney general, the chief of the Supreme Court and the president himself to investigate the case.

“I am mayor,” he said. “I am continuing my job.”

A spokesman for Karzai, who is under intense international pressure to assemble a new corrupt-free Cabinet, did not return calls seeking comment about Sahebi.

Officials with the Afghan Supreme Court, the nation’s highest bench, said they were shocked that Sahebi was back at work.

While the mayoral drama played out in the heart of Kabul, government officials were holding a news conference across town to talk about steps to combat corruption.

It was announced that whoever Karzai picks for his new Cabinet will be required to complete financial disclosures before they can be approved by parliament. Four of the government’s 25 current ministers have failed to do so.

The top U.N. official for Afghanistan did not address the mayor’s case directly, but stressed at the news conference that existing laws need to be better implemented.

“The decisive element in order to fight corruption in Afghanistan is not the constant discussion of new mechanisms and new structures and new commissions,” Kai Eide said. “We may need that, but structures do exist. A legal system does exist that is able, to a large extent, to address corruption.”