WASHINGTON (AFP) –
The Obama administration is pressing Afghan President Hamid Karzai to set up an anti-corruption commission, The New York Times said Tuesday.

The panel would establish "strict accountability" for national and provincial government officials, the Times reported, citing senior officials from US President Barack Obama's administration.

Some US and European officials are also seeking the arrests of what one US representative termed "the more blatantly corrupt" people in the Afghan government, it added.

"A couple of high-profile heads on a platter would be nice," a European diplomat involved in Afghanistan told the newspaper.

Among potential persons of interest was Ahmed Wali Karzai, the president's brother who is suspected of harboring important links to Afghanistan's booming illegal opium trade in the southern Taliban hotbed of Kandahar.

The Times also cited former defense minister Marshal Muhammad Qasim Fahim, a Karzai running mate suspected of drug trafficking, and General Abdul Rashid Dostum, a feared warlord accused of being involved in the killings of thousands of Taliban prisoners shortly after the US-led invasion in 2001.

The names, however, were not provided by US officials and were culled from the international community's "wish list," it said.

The issue of corruption has come up repeatedly during a series of meetings Obama has held to review his Afghanistan strategy as he weighs sending tens of thousands more US troops to the eight-year war, administration officials told the Times.

They characterized the number of US troops in Afghanistan as the biggest leverage Washington has with Karzai.

"The issue of the government's competence and legitimacy, and how that fits into our ability to succeed in Afghanistan, has been thoroughly discussed in these meetings," a senior US official told the newspaper.

"Because we're putting American and coalition troops on the line in part to make sure the government stands and has a chance to succeed, there has to be an effort on their part to improve their effectiveness and address corruption."