Karzai Slams the West Again

KABUL, Afghanistan—President Hamid Karzai lashed out at his Western backers for the second time in three days, accusing the U.S. of interfering in Afghan affairs and saying the Taliban insurgency would become a legitimate resistance movement if the meddling doesn't stop.           

Mr. Karzai, whose government is propped up by billions of dollars in Western aid and nearly 100,000 American troops fighting a deadly war against the Taliban, made the comments during a private meeting with about 60 or 70 Afghan lawmakers Saturday.

Reuters

At one point, Mr. Karzai suggested that he himself would be compelled to join the other side —that is, the Taliban—if the parliament didn't back his controversial attempt to take control of the country's electoral watchdog from the United Nations, according to three people who attended the meeting, including an ally of the president.

Mr. Karzai blamed the lawmakers' resistance to his move on a foreign conspiracy, they said. The Afghan president's latest remarks came less than 24 hours after he assured U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that he was committed to working with the U.S. That phone call was precipitated by a similar—but less vitriolic--anti-Western diatribe Mr. Karzai delivered earlier last week.

After Friday's call, U.S. and Afghan officials said they were putting the incident behind them and moving on.

Publicly, at least, they have: Mr. Karzai traveled Sunday to the southern city of Kandahar with the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

Coalition and Afghan forces are planning a major offensive in coming months to secure Kandahar, the Taliban's birthplace and spiritual heartland.

Mr. Karzai sought to reassure anxious residents there during a meeting with tribal elders. "There won't be an operation unless you are happy about it," Mr. Karzai told the crowd, assuring them they would be "consulted first."

As in February's offensive in the southern town of Marjah, Mr. Karzai will have a say over when major operations in Kandahar begin. The idea, say U.S. officials, is to give him the chance to take up the challenge of leading the fight against the Taliban.

Mr. Karzai's Saturday round of accusations against the U.S. and its allies was the strongest indication to date that the strategy is having little effect on the president.  

Instead, the Afghan leader seems as mistrustful of the West as ever—and increasingly willing to tap the resentment many ordinary Afghans feel toward the U.S. and its allies. Many here view the coalition as enabling the Afghan government's widespread corruption, and blame U.S.-led forces for killing too many civilians.

At the same time, Mr. Karzai is working to improve relations with American rivals, such as Iran and China. The result is further strain on an already-tense partnership. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul declined to comment on Saturday's speech.

One lawmaker who attended the meeting, Gul Badshah Majidi, said that if Mr. Karzai persisted in attacking his government's Western allies so openly, the situation would become untenable.

"We will have to take powerful action to fix the situation, to go against the government," said Mr. Majidi, who ran Mr. Karzai's re-election campaign in the eastern province of Paktia.

Short of an impeachment, it is unclear what that action could be, a point made clear when Mr. Majidi was asked in an interview Sunday whether he regretted helping the president secure a second term. "Yes," he said. "But what can I do?"

Lawmakers who attended the 2 1/2-hour meeting said it largely consisted of the president lambasting them for rejecting a few days earlier his attempt to take control of the country's Electoral Complaints Commission. They quoted Mr. Karzai as saying the lawmakers were being used by Western officials who want to install a "puppet government" in Afghanistan.

Waheed Omar, a presidential spokesman, denied that Mr. Karzai said he would join the Taliban or accused the West of trying to control Afghanistan."He talked about the new electoral law and asked the members of parliament to reconsider their decision," Mr. Omar said.

The lower house of Afghanistan's parliament last week rejected almost unanimously a decree issued in February by Mr. Karzai that gave him the power to appoint all five members of the ECC. The commission previously included three foreign, U.N.-appointed members.

The ECC threw out as fraudulent nearly a million votes cast for Mr. Karzai during last year's presidential election, ordering a runoff vote. The runoff didn't take place because the runner-up candidate withdrew from the race.

Fresh parliamentary elections are slated for September, and Mr. Karzai's control over the ECC could benefit candidates allied with him, potentially producing a more pliant legislature.

Despite securing re-election, associates of Mr. Karzai say the events around last year's vote left the president feeling betrayed by the West. Those feelings were clear in a speech Mr. Karzai gave Thursday, accusing "foreign embassies," the U.N. and the European Union of being behind the electoral fraud and of trying to force him into a coalition government with his opponents.

On Saturday, Mr. Karzai went a step further, saying foreign interference in Afghan affairs fueled the insurgency, according to five lawmakers who attended the meeting.

"He said that the only reason that the Taliban and other insurgent groups are fighting the Afghan government is that they see foreigners having the final say in everything," said one of the lawmakers.

All five lawmakers said Mr. Karzai told those who gathered at the palace that the Taliban's "revolt will change to resistance" if the U.S. and its allies kept dictating how his government should run. The word "resistance" is a term often used to convey a legitimate struggle against unjust rulers, such as the Mujahedeen's fight against the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Mr. Karzai's remarks were the latest sign of the growing rift between the Afghan leader and the U.S., which is pouring troops into the country in a bid to reverse the Taliban's momentum and win the support of ordinary Afghans.

Key to the surge strategy is restoring the battered domestic reputation of the Karzai administration. President Barack Obama, during a brief visit to Kabul Monday, pressed Mr. Karzai to clean up the pervasive corruption in his government.

If anything, Mr. Obama's visit appears to have backfired. A businessman with close ties to Mr. Karzai said the Afghan leader was insulted by Mr. Obama's comments and left with even greater doubts about the American commitment to Afghanistan. 

Write to Matthew Rosenberg at matthew.rosenberg@wsj.com