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Karzai: Foreigners are interfering

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Los Angeles Times

Published: November 8, 2009

KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government lashed out Saturday at his foreign critics, accusing a top U.N. official and other international figures of interfering in the country's affairs.

The Foreign Ministry took issue with U.N. Special Representative Kai Eide, who recently issued a list of reforms that he expected Karzai to make. Such comments "exceeded international norms" and "violated respect for Afghanistan's national sovereignty," the ministry said in a statement.

At a news conference Thursday, Eide warned Karzai that he risked losing the support of international donors and troops unless he cleansed his government of corruption and warlords.

President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have made similarly pointed remarks since Karzai was declared the winner Monday of a drawn-out election tainted by fraud. Both leaders need a credible partner in Kabul to justify sending additional troops to fight an escalating Taliban insurgency.

"Over the last few days, some political and diplomatic circles and propaganda agencies of certain foreign countries have intervened in Afghanistan's internal affairs by issuing instructions concerning the composition of Afghan government organs and political policy of Afghanistan," the Foreign Ministry statement said.

It noted Karzai has pledged to make the fight against corruption and other reforms a top priority of his administration.

Dan McNorton, a spokesman for the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, said its mandate was to "support and also to advise the government."

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

NATO AIRSTRIKE: Afghan officials said Saturday a NATO airstrike inadvertently killed four Afghan soldiers and two policemen, and wounded five American soldiers and 17 Afghan security forces a day earlier in northwestern Afghanistan.

UNITED NATIONS: The U.N. says hundreds of its staffers will be temporarily pulled out of Afghanistan in the wake of an Oct. 28 attack that killed five of its workers, but it's still determining exactly how many.

A wire report

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