Afghan President Hamid Karzai has promised to tackle the 'stain' of corruption after criticism from Western supporters in the wake of his re-election.
'Now we are determined to use all our forces, by any means, to remove this stain from our soil,' Mr Karzai said in a nationally televised victory speech.
Mr Karzai also handed an olive branch to his Taliban 'brothers' after he secured a new five-year term in office.
'We call on our Taliban brothers to come home and embrace their land,' Mr Karzai said one day after organisers declared him the winner of the country's second presidential election.
The Taliban, many of whose fighters are based along the porous Afghan-Pakistan border, were driven out of Kabul in late 2001 by US-led coalition forces.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama has signalled a tough new approach towards Mr Karzai, urging him just hours after his re-election to wipe out corruption amid warnings of hard talks ahead.
'This has to be point in time in which we begin to write a new chapter based on improved governance,' Mr Obama said he had told Mr Karzai in a telephone call, just after the Afghan leader was declared the winner of the fraud-tainted poll.
Mr Obama congratulated the Afghan President, but told him to make 'a much more serious effort to eradicate corruption.
'He assured me that he understood the importance of this moment. But as I indicated to him, the proof is not going to be in words. It's going to be in deeds,' Mr Obama warned.
Mr Karzai was declared the winner of presidential elections in August that were marred by widespread fraud and ballot-stuffing.
'Although the process was messy, I'm pleased to say that the final outcome was determined in accordance with Afghan law, which I think is very important not only for the international community that has so much invested in Afghan success, but most importantly is important for the Afghan people,' Mr Obama said.
The US leader added that 'after some difficult years in which there's been some drift' he expected to see Mr Karzai demonstrate that 'he's going to move boldly and forcefully forward and take advantage of the international community's interest in his country to initiate reforms internally.'
'That has to be one of our highest priorities,' said Mr
Obama, whose administration has put increasing pressure on the Afghan leader and made no secret of its concerns about corruption in Afghanistan.
