Democratic Party

White House to Karzai: Check Yourself

By Katy Steinmetz | @katysteinmetz | April 2, 2010 | +

The White House isn’t just turning the other cheek to Hamid Karzai, though they’re not yet throwing counter-punches either. Following the Afghan president’s allegations of dastardly foreign meddling and fraud, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told a gaggle of reporters in his office this morning that the administration wants Karzai to explain himself:

“Obviously some of the comments of President Karzai troubling. They’re cause for real and genuine concern … We are seeking clarification from President Karzai about the nature of some of his remarks. And I think the president was quite clear with President Karzai over the weekend of the necessary steps that have to be taken to improve governance and corruption in order to deal with the problems that we face there. Understanding the tremendous sacrifice that our men and women in uniform make each and every day and the security gains that are ultimately made … those security gains are only going to be solidified if there is confident governance in those areas once the Taliban is pushed out.”

The meeting in May in Washington is, “as of now,” still on, he added. But the White House seems poised to react with more than requests for elaboration if the “clarification” (which would need to look an awful lot like back-peddling) doesn’t pan out.

When asked whether the White House believed the fraud allegations specifically leveled at Peter Galbraith, the former U.S. ambassador and U.N. envoy, to be false, Gibbs kept his response general:

“There were allegations of fraud. Allegations were looked into. Ballots for a number of candidates were thrown out … but the Afghans elected President Karzai. That’s all been dealt with. The focus has to be on moving forward on the type of credible governance that is necessary to stabilize that country. Again, without a doubt, these are troubling comments.”

Galbraith, who lost his job over pressing for a tougher stance against election fraud, meanwhile denied the allegations and took the gallows-humor approach: “I sometimes wonder if Karzai is a little too enthusiastic about Afghanistan’s most popular export,” he told the Washington Independent’s Spencer Ackerman.

Related Topics: 2012 Election, afghan president, corruption, Fraud, hamid karzai, meeting, president barack obama, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Democratic Party, White House

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  • FlownOver

    OK, how brokenhearted would we really be if Karzai invited the U.S. to leave?

    I for one would be happy to follow the deathless advice of Barbara Billingsley: “Chump don’t want no help, chump don’t get no help!”

  • spob

    Speaking of checking things, note the walkback of Emanuel Cleaver. You know, Mr. Cleaver, there is such a thing as video.

  • Cliff

    Galbraith, Galbraith…he sounds familiar for some reason.
    .
    Is he by any chance the Galbraith that pushed hard for Kurd autonomy while not disclosing that he had money invested in Kurdish oil fields?
    .
    Oh hey, look at that:
    .

    What Galbraith kept completely concealed all these years was that a company he formed in 2004 came to acquire a large stake in a Kurdish oil field whereby, as the NYT put it, he “stands to earn perhaps a hundred million or more dollars.” In other words, he had a direct — and vast — financial stake in the very policies which he was publicly advocating in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and countless other American media outlets, where he was presented as an independent expert on the region.

    .
    http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2009/11/12/galbraith
    .
    Looks like he was also an early advocate of the Iraq invasion!
    .
    So good thing we’re sending top-notch people over to Afghanistan who are sure to keep their noses clean.

  • http://erieangel.wordpress.com erieangel

    This came as a surprise to you? The Iraq war was ALWAYS about the oil and enriching Bush buddies. I knew that from day one.

  • gysgt213

    Is this an attempt by the White House to paint President Karzai as a tad ungrateful for speaking out of turn?
    .
    Nice how Gibbs brings up the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform as if President Karzai was referring in any way to them. Its a cheap shot and we have seen this type of conduct before. Anyone who has been paying attention would know that we have more civilian contractors in country than troops.
    .
    As a matter of fact there are so many civilian contractors in country involved in so many things that Peter Galbraith could have been directly involved in corruption or just turned a blind eye to it and there would be no way to prove either.

  • kevin

    Yes, there is such a thing as video, and here it is:
    .
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/28/congressman-spit-on-by-te_n_516300.html?page=110&show_comment_id=43375250#comment_43375250
    .
    I know, I know. Why bother arguing with spob.
    .
    But if he wants to continue the discussion about just how racist and offensive the tea party folks are, let’s oblige him.

  • michaelfury

    “To prepare for proposed construction in 2010, the Afghan government has reportedly given assurances it will clear the route of land mines, and make the path free of Taliban influence.

    In a report to be released today, energy economist John Foster says the pipeline is part of a wider struggle by the United States to counter the influence of Russia and Iran over energy trade in the region.

    The so-called Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline has strong support from Washington because the U.S. government is eager to block a competing pipeline that would bring gas to Pakistan and India from Iran.

    The TAPI pipeline would also diminish Russia’s dominance of Central Asian energy exports.”

    http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/10/30/the-ones-who-attacked-us/

  • Cliff

    eerieangel, I was trying to express sarcasm there. Of course the Iraq War was about war profiteering.
    .
    But my point is that Katy Steinmetz is engaging in he-said she said journalism here. “Karzai says this, but Galbraith says that!”
    .
    Where does she point out that Galbraith is a known war profiteer and oil shill? Seems like we should know that if we want to evaluate his word on Middle Eastern affairs.

  • spob

    Ive seen the video Kevin. Looks like a “say it don’t spray it” incident.
    .
    In any event, why is Cleaver backing off? Explain that one, moron.

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