KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai, facing massive Western pressure to clamp down on corruption, will submit at least part of his long-awaited cabinet to parliament for approval on Tuesday, an official said.

Re-elected for a second term in an August election marred by fraud, the 51-year-old head of state is under huge domestic and foreign pressure to form a transparent government to help end an eight-year Taliban insurgency.

"The president intends to introduce a number of his new cabinet members to parliament tomorrow, Tuesday," Siamak Herawi, a Karzai spokesman, told AFP.

Asked how many of the new cabinet members would be submitted, the spokesman added: "Most likely a good number of them, most of them."

Parliament must pass a vote of confidence before the new Afghan cabinet can start work and analysts hope that the new line-up can finally crack on with the business of government after months of political paralysis.

Lawmakers have delayed the start of their winter recess, but one MP expressed doubt that the 241-member house could expedite approval of the new cabinet.

"On Tuesday it's very unlikely to happen because it's not on the agenda. The heads of (parliamentary) committees will discuss it at their meeting this afternoon and come up with a final decision," Shukria Barakzai told AFP.

The presidential palace said it would be up to parliament when to debate the cabinet and pass a vote of confidence in each new minister.

"We'll send the list tomorrow than it would be up to the parliament to decide on when they want to debate it," Herawai told AFP.

Washington has warned Karzai to fight corruption or see his cabinet bypassed in favour of lower level officials to provide services to Afghans as part of a sweeping new war strategy that includes more than 30,000 extra troops.

Karzai faces a challenge in satisfying those who supported him in the elections with government jobs and keeping his Western allies happy.

Spiralling insecurity, drugs trade, corruption, crime and alliances with warlords accused of rights abuses have triggered mounting criticism of his administration, dismaying Western capitals and the Afghan public.

Karzai has already inaugurated Mohammad Qasim Fahim, a former anti-Soviet resistance leader and an anti-Taliban commander, as his first vice president.

Human Rights Watch has implicated Fahim in abuses including murder during the post-Soviet civil war, and diplomats allege his abuses continue today with assassinations, weapons smuggling and narcotics activities.

But in an interview with CNN broadcast on Sunday, Karzai reiterated his inauguration pledge to root out official corruption, while insisting that complaints from Western powers about government graft were "overplayed".

His government "will address all of those questions that are in Afghanistan that are our problems. It is our responsibility, and we must do it".

Karzai said his goal is "to make administration simpler, to make it transparent so people can have delivery of services sooner and cheaper, and without the possibility of corruption".

But he also placed some blame for endemic corruption on the Western nations which are trying to help protect and rebuild his war-ravaged country which has been losing ground to Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighter.

"I also hope that our partners will also address problems that they bring to us that cause corruption, that cause bad governance, that cause parallel governance, that cause insecurity."

NATO countries and allies, led by the United States, maintain 113,000 troops in Afghanistan -- a figure set to rise to 150,000 over 18 months -- to fight the Taliban insurgency and support efforts to inculcate democracy.

President Barack Obama has said the United States will no longer give Afghanistan a "blank check" for aid, turning up the pressure on Karzai to end corruption seen as fuelling the insurgency and destabilising his rule.

The international community pumped billions of dollars of aid into Afghanistan, the fifth poorest country in the world, after the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime and paved the way for Karzai to sweep to power.