The dust has barely settled after a tempestuous election, but Hamed Karzai, who was declared president on November 2, is once again at the center of controversy.

Under severe pressure from the international community to tackle corruption and improve security, he faces stiff opposition at home. After all, many of the central figures in Afghanistan’s numerous corruption scandals are political heavyweights quite close to the president himself. Trying to tackle corruption without getting rid of them would be futile, say many observers. But undermining his political base by exposing or sacking his supporters is an almost impossible task for the new president.

U.S. President Barack Obama was one of the first international leaders to congratulate Karzai on his new term in office. But he accompanied his words of felicitation with a stern warning: Karzai had to get a handle on corruption in his administration, or U.S. support could be in question. “We want to see deeds, not just words,” he said.

Karzai responded very quickly. In his first address to the nation, on November 3, he promised to remove the “stain of corruption” from his government, but did not go into specifics. He did worry many observers by saying that he was not prepared to address the problem by sacking officials. “We will draft some new laws,” he said.

Corruption has been a major problem in Afghanistan, earning it the dubious distinction of being the fifth most corrupt nation on earth, according to Transparency International’s index.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave a harsh speech warning that support for the war was waning in the UK, and could collapse completely if Karzai did not clean up his government. UN Special representative Kai Eide issued a similar statement.

But rather than serving as a wake-up call for the government, the lectures provoked a negative reaction from Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry, which accused the international community of meddling in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.

Karzai now finds himself in the unenviable position of trying to pursue contradictory goals. He must try and retain the support of the international community, without which he cannot run the country; but he must avoid irritating the powerful figures who backed his election, and who are, in many cases, named in most discussions of corruption in Afghanistan.

The international media and numerous organizations such as Human Rights Watch have accused figures such as Karzai’s First Vice President Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim of corruption and human rights violations. Karzai’s own brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, who heads the Provincial Council in Kandahar province, has been named by the New York Times as one of the country’s major drug traffickers.

“Corruption was one of the main problems that existed in the previous (Karzai) government,” said parliamentarian Shukria Barakzai. But she is not hopeful that the problem can be corrected in a new administration.

“Some of Karzai’s team may now be thinking of how to get power in the new cabinet,” she said.

Moen Marastyal, a parliamentarian who worked on Karzai’s re-election campaign, says that corruption will never end unless the president puts into place a system of punishment and incentives.

“Without having a merit-based administration it is difficult to address corruption,” he said. “We should not appoint warlords to the government.”

Many sources point to the political maneuvering that Karzai’s team engaged in before the elections. The president reportedly made deals with former jihadi leaders, promising them power and position in the next administration in return for their support. This could hamper efforts to establish a cleaner, merit-based system.

Political analyst and Kabul University lecturer Nasrullah Stanikzai dismisses the notion that Karzai should be penalized because of actions by his relatives.

“Crime is an individual action,” he said. “If the president’s relatives are involved in drug trafficking, it has no relation to the president.”

According to Stanekzai, there are steps necessary in order to tackle the problem. First, those convicted of corruption must be punished; second, the corrupt relatives of government officials should not be given posts in the government; third, warlords must be brought to justice.

But these things are easier said than done.

Ahmad Zia Rafhat, a lecturer at Kabul University, thinks that Karzai needs a strong advisory team, in order to pick professional people for the new administration.

“Karzai could do this in less than a month if he wanted to,” said Rafhat.

But the reforms themselves will take some time, he added.

“The law itself has problems,” he said. “If a good government comes to power it could revise the law and pave the way for better implementation.”

Corruption has taken center stage in the debate, but Karzai also promised to improve the security situation, a major priority for most Afghans.

Rafhat believes that the emphasis should be on training and equipping the Afghan security forces.  Stanekzai agrees, and adds that the government should prioritize security issues.

But no one has any specific recommendations for addressing Afghanistan’s myriad problems. Generalities are not going to work. Unless the government can show that it is taking practical measures to stamp out corruption and stabilize security, things are only going to get worse.