The list of metrics for Afghanistan delivered to Congress last week includes just one, out of 46, focused on government corruption. This badly understates the priority of the issue. An anti-corruption campaign has become the urgent overlooked priority in the west’s strategy to address the rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.

It is bad enough that the US has to consider further expanding its commitment to this war at precisely the moment when Afghan president Hamid Karzai, or his cronies, seem bent on stealing an election. More broadly, how can we ask our troops to risk their lives in the sands of Kandahar and Helmand provinces and the mountains of Paktia, Paktika and Khost while Mr Karzai cavorts with warlords and drug smugglers? With Afghans – or at least those Afghans in power – doing less and less, the US cannot easily contemplate doing more.