IN BRIEF (Page 12)

AFGHANISTAN

Karzai denies Taliban embrace

President Hamid Karzai's spokesman denied reports that the Afghan leader threatened to join the Taliban insurgency if he were pressured further by foreign backers, in an apparent attempt Wednesday to calm worsening tensions with Washington. Karzai's comments, allegedly made in a meeting with lawmakers on Saturday, had been widely reported by US media, prompting the White House to say a planned Washington visit might be canceled if Karzai didn't stop blaming the US for his problems.