Washington, Apr 20(ANI): The Obama administration has said that its issues with Afghan President Hamid Karzai are a thing of the past, and announced that Karzai will visit Washington next month.
“In terms of our relationships with the government of Afghanistan, we feel they are in good shape. There was a period where the waters got roiled a little bit, but that period is over,” The Washington Post quoted Richard C. Holbrooke, the US Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, as saying.
Holbrooke further said the reports of friction between him and the Afghan leader were overblown, and his two-hour visit with Karzai last week in Kabul was “the longest, most sustained and most focused” of five meetings this year alone.
Earlier, the White House had said that it would consider cancelling Karzai’s visit, if he continued to make controversial accusations against Western interference in Afghanistan.
Tensions between the West and Karzai flared up last month, when Karzai accused the West and the United Nations of perpetrating fraud in the August presidential election and described the Western military coalition as coming close to being seen as invaders who would give the insurgency legitimacy as “a national resistance.”
Karzai is scheduled to visit Washington on May 10 to May 14 for meetings at the White House and with the administration’s top national security officials. (ANI)