British Prime Minister Gordon Brown publicly demanded Friday that the Afghan government rein in corruption, saying he is "not prepared to put the lives of British men and women in harm's way for a government that does not stand up against corruption." We wish President Barack Obama would make a similarly clear public statement on the need for Afghan President Hamid Karzai to purge corrupt officials and bring effective governance to his people as a condition for continued U.S. support against the Taliban and its al-Qaeda allies.

President Obama called to "congratulate" President Karzai last week after he was declared the winner in his country's flawed elections over the summer. Mr. Obama also reportedly warned his Afghan counterpart privately that the U.S. expected him to use his victory to open a "new chapter" in the struggle against widespread corruption among government officials. Given the political and diplomatic niceties required by such occasions, the White House declined to specify what the president told Mr. Karzai he wanted done. But Mr. Obama owes it to the American people to say where the administration intends to draw the line between cooperating with Kabul and simply writing a blank check to a deeply dysfunctional regime.