On a secret flight to Kabul a few weeks back, Gen. Jim Jones, Obama’s National Security Advisor cracked a joke at the expense of Afghan president Hamid Karzai in an on-the-record briefing with reporters. The White House opted not to put out a transcript of the conversation, so I transcribed the relevant part here on Swampland, including Press Secretary’s immediate response: “No, no, no.”

Last week, the comedy continued, when Jones appeared before the Washington Institute for Near East Peace, with a joke about a “Taliban warrior” and a “Jewish merchant.”

The  joke was not included in a released White House transcript of Jones’ remarks. But it still got out. The Anti-Defamation League called the joke “inappropriate” and “stereotypic.” Jones has since apologized, as Massimo Calabresi recounts in a Time.com story today. He notes that the timing of the joke is all wrong: