Reply #11: Obama ordered security officials to improve relations with Hamid Karzai [View All]

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Barack Obama orders security officials to improve relations with Hamid Karzai

Source: Guardian UK

Barack Obama orders security officials to improve relations with Hamid Karzai
Afghan president will shortly arrive in Washington for a potentially fraught meeting

Andrew Clark, New York
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 9 May 2010 18.37 BST

Barack Obama has ordered his top officials to take a gentler approach towards the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, who arrives in Washington tomorrow for a potentially fraught meeting after a period of prickly disagreements over troop withdrawals, corruption and security.

According to the Washington Post, Obama has told his national security team to show more respect to Karzai and to pull back from public criticisms of the Afghan leader, who was re-elected last year in a contest marred by deep irregularities.

Relations have soured in recent months, with Karzai alarmed that the US has set a deadline of July 2011 for the start of troop withdrawals. Last month Karzai accused foreign governments, including the US, of causing fraud in last year's presidential election and even reportedly threatened to join the Taliban if he did not get better treatment.

The relationship hit a low point after a visit by Obama to Kabul at the end of March, when Karzai took offence at remarks made by the White House's national security adviser, James Jones.

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