KABUL — President Hamid Karzai lashed out at the U.N. and international community Thursday, accusing them of interfering in last year’s fraud- tarnished presidential election and seeking to weaken his authority after parliament rejected his bid to expand his control over the country’s electoral institutions.
Karzai did not specifically mention the United States, but his harsh words — and his practice of blaming foreigners for the nation’s problems — reflect his increasingly difficult relations with Washington and its international allies.
President Barack Obama paid an unannounced visit here Sunday in hopes of setting a new tone in dealings with the Afghan leader, as the U.S.-led coalition prepares for a showdown with the Taliban this summer in its southern stronghold of Kandahar — Karzai’s home province.
The Obama administration has maintained a reliable Afghan political partner is critical to turning back the Taliban, and State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley rejected any attempt to undermine Karzai.
“Karzai has to step forward, lead his government in terms of convincing the international community and the Afghan people that they are taking measurable steps to reduce corruption,” Crowley said in Washington. “It’s not in anyone’s interest to see Afghanistan poorly led or weakly led in the future.”
Karzai’s international stature was battered last year after a U.N.-backed watchdog committee threw out nearly a third of his votes in the Aug. 20 presidential election, denying him a first-round victory and forcing him into a runoff, which was canceled after his remaining challenger dropped out.
Karzai’s comments, delivered to employees of the state election commission, also sharpened the power struggle with an increasingly independent-minded parliament over whether foreigners will help oversee parliamentary balloting scheduled for September.
On Wednesday, the lower house of parliament canceled a decree Karzai issued in February revoking the authority of the United Nations to appoint most of the members of the election fraud commission that threw out his ballots last year.
