Clinton, an influential voice in deliberations about whether to add large numbers of U.S. troops to an unpopular eight-year-old war, said Afghan President Hamid Karzai can do more to reduce corruption and go after those who may have looted U.S. aid in the past.

"I have made it clear that we're not going to be providing any civilian aid to Afghanistan unless we have a certification that if it goes into the Afghan government in any form, that we're going to have ministries that we can hold accountable," Clinton said.

The Obama administration wants a tribunal to prosecute major corruption crimes and a new anticorruption commission, she said in an interview on ABC's This Week.

"There does have to be actions by the government of Afghanistan against those who have taken advantage of the money that has poured into Afghanistan in the last eight years so that we can better track it and we can have actions taken that demonstrate there's no impunity for those who are corrupt," she said.

President Obama is weighing ways to link the coming troops and money decision to better government performance in Afghanistan, but U.S. leverage is limited by the shifting objectives in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion and the history of sloppy accountability on both sides.

"We're going to expect more from the Afghan government going forward, and we've got some very specific asks that we will be making," Clinton said in another interview on NBC's Meet the Press. Both interviews were done from Asia, where Clinton is traveling with Obama.

Clinton did not spell out exactly what those "asks," or demands, would be, beyond the tribunal and commission she mentioned. Congress has already required the administration to measure the performance of the Afghan government on several fronts, and the coming announcement is expected to expand on that effort and include more specific goals for the training and performance of Afghan armed forces.

The New York Times reported yesterday that the Obama administration was also leaning on Pakistan to step up its fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Citing anonymous sources, the Times reported that Gen. James L. Jones, Obama's national security adviser, was sent to Islamabad with a letter for Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari.

In the letter, the newspaper reported, Obama said he expected Pakistan to do more to fight the extremists threatening Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Obama is expected to announce some troop increase and clearer limitations on U.S. goals for the war after he returns from Asia late this week. The announcement is expected just after the Thanksgiving holiday, despite continued criticism from the political right that Obama is taking too long to announce his next move.

The time is past, Clinton said, when U.S. officials would "talk about how we were going to help the Afghans build a modern democracy, and build a more functioning state, and do all these wonderful things." She added: "That could happen, but our primary focus is on the security of the United States of America, how do we protect and defend against future attacks."

Obama's top war commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has laid out military options for employing about 10,000 to 40,000 additional U.S. troops next year, and he prefers the high end, military officials have said. Military officials have said the most likely outcome is a middle path that would add about 20,000 to 35,000 troops.

In Afghanistan yesterday, hundreds of French and Afghan troops pushed into a hostile valley in the east where militants launch quick attacks, then disappear into hillside villages. The aim is to secure the area for a planned bypass road around the Afghan capital to move supplies from neighboring Pakistan. About 700 French troops, joined by 100 Afghan soldiers, moved into the Tagab valley before dawn with more than 100 armored vehicles.

NATO forces have bases in the wide-bottom valley, but they have had difficulty securing the mountainous area connected by small footpaths. Just 30 miles from Kabul, the valley is seen as a launching pad for attacks in the capital. In a neighboring valley last year, militants killed 10 French troops.