White House Calls Karzai Speech ‘Troubling’

By PETER BAKER

The White House expressed unhappiness Friday with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan after a harsh anti-Western speech in which he accused foreigners of manipulating last year’s election and warned that American and NATO troops risked being seen as invaders.

Mr. Karzai’s speech, coming just days after President Obama visited him in Kabul, underscored the deep mistrust between the two leaders and their governments even as the United States is tripling its troop commitment since the beginning of the Obama presidency to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

The White House called Mr. Karzai’s speech “troubling” and said it would seek clarification through the State Department, which is diplomatic code for expressing annoyance and even anger. Mr. Obama used his visit to press Mr. Karzai to do more to battle pervasive corruption that has undermined the credibility of the Kabul government and fed the increasingly lethal insurgency, but the Afghan leader bristled at the lecture.

“We are seeking clarification from President Karzai about the nature of some of his remarks,” Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, told reporters. “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.”

Asked to characterize Mr. Karzai’s speech, Mr. Gibbs said, “Without a doubt, these are troubling comments.” Asked whether Mr. Karzai was still invited to visit Washington in May, Mr. Gibbs said, “As of right now, yes.”

In his speech on Thursday, which was later broadcast on television, Mr. Karzai rejected allegations that his allies were involved in widespread fraud in the election last year that awarded him a second term as president, and pointed the finger instead at the West, naming particular United Nations and European Union officials.

“There is no doubt that the fraud was very widespread,” Mr. Karzai said, “but this fraud was not committed by Afghans, it was committed by foreigners.” As for American, British and other NATO troops now fighting the anti-government Taliban insurgents, Mr. Karzai said “there is a thin curtain between invasion and cooperation-assistance.”