Asia-Pacific
3 German soldiers killed in north Afghan clash
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-04-03 16:46
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Abdullah Abdullah - who dropped out of a presidential runoff against Karzai because he believed it would also be tainted - also said he was worried about what he described as the president's erratic behavior.
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 Abdullah Abdullah, former Afghan presidential candidate, speaks during a press conference at his residence in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, April 2, 2010. The main political rival accused Afghan President Hamid Karzai Friday of undermining the war against the Taliban by blaming the international community for the controversy over last year's disputed election. [Agencies]
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Abdullah spoke to reporters a day after Karzai accused the UN and international community of trying to rig the presidential election in order to either deny him a second term or tarnish his victory.
After the Obama administration expressed dismay over Karzai's assertion, he called US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday and clarified his remarks.
"President Karzai reaffirmed his commitment to the partnership between our two countries, and expressed his appreciation for the contributions and sacrifices of the international community," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said, indicating that Clinton told Karzai that they should focus on common aims for stabilizing Afghanistan.
"They pledged to continue working together in a spirit of partnership," he said.
The Obama administration and its NATO allies are depending on Karzai's government to be a reliable partner in the war against the Taliban. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, believes the support of the Afghan people for the government is key to winning the war.
During the news conference, Abdullah accused Karzai of undermining the morale of Afghan forces battling the stubborn Taliban insurgency by implying that Afghanistan was still a country under foreign occupation.
"It was extraordinary ... this is treason to the national interest," Abdullah said. "What is the message to the thousands of soldiers and national police defending the country?"
"(Karzai) thinks that by taking that message he has delivered a populist stance, an anti-foreigner message," Abdullah said. "He tried to blur the line between national resistance to terrorism and the insurgency."
Karzai's comments, delivered Thursday to employees of the state election commission, came after parliament rejected his bid to expand his control over the country's electoral institutions. The remarks were seen as sharpening the power struggle with an increasingly independent-minded parliament over whether foreigners will help oversee parliamentary elections scheduled for September.
During his speech Thursday, Karzai acknowledged there had been "vast fraud" in the August vote, which returned him to office for a second five-year term. But he blamed the fraud on the UN and other foreign organizations.
Turning the accusation back on Karzai, Abdullah said it was clear the president and his supporters were the ones responsible. Two good things came out of Karzai's comments, he said.
"First, the admission that there was massive fraud; and second, the admission that his rule was in fact illegitimate," Abdullah said.
