TONIGHT, PRESIDENT Obama will likely commit 30,000 to 35,000 more soldiers to the war in Afghanistan, boosting the troop total to about 100,000. News reports say he will announce a timetable for withdrawal. One more thing is needed. The troop total and the timetable must be tied to an unmistakable ultimatum to Afghan President Hamid Karzai: Clean up corruption, or we are gone much sooner.

Afghanistan is ranked the world’s second-most corrupt country, second only to Somalia, by Transparency International. The corruption is so rampant that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month said on ABC, “I have made it clear that we are 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...