<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">According to this NYT report, Karzai has been making strange, and disrespectful, noises about his American supporters. --mkb<div><br></div><div><div class="timestamp"></div>
<div class="kicker"></div>
<h1 style="font-size: 17px; "><nyt_headline version="1.0" type=" ">Afghan Leader Is Seen to Flout
Influence of U.S.</nyt_headline></h1>
<nyt_byline> <h6 class="byline">By <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/dexter_filkins/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More Articles by Dexter Filkins" class="meta-per">DEXTER FILKINS</a>
and <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/mark_landler/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More Articles by Mark Landler" class="meta-per">MARK LANDLER</a></h6>
</nyt_byline>
<nyt_text>
<div id="articleBody">
<nyt_correction_top>
</nyt_correction_top><p>
KABUL, Afghanistan — This month, with President <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/hamid_karzai/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Hamid Karzai." class="meta-per">Hamid Karzai</a>
looking ahead to a visit to the White House, he received a terse note
from aides to <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Barack Obama." class="meta-per">President
Obama</a>: Your invitation has been revoked. </p><p>
The reason, according to American officials, was Mr. Karzai’s
announcement that he was emasculating an independent panel that had
discovered widespread fraud in Mr. Karzai’s re-election last year. </p><p>
Incensed, Mr. Karzai extended an invitation of his own — to <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/mahmoud_ahmadinejad/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad." class="meta-per">Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad</a>, the Iranian president, who flew to Kabul and delivered
a fiery anti-American speech inside <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/afghanistan/index.html?inline=nyt-geo" title="More news and information about Afghanistan." class="meta-loc">Afghanistan</a>’s
presidential palace. </p><p>
“Karzai was enraged,” said an Afghan with knowledge of the events, who
spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the
issue. “He invited Ahmadinejad to spite the Americans.” </p><p>
The dispute was smoothed over only this week, when Mr. Obama flew to
Kabul for a surprise dinner with Mr. Karzai. White House officials
emphasized that the most important purpose of Mr. Obama’s trip to
Afghanistan was to visit American troops there. </p><p>
But the red carpet treatment of Mr. Ahmadinejad is just one example of
how Mr. Karzai is putting distance between himself and his American
sponsors, prominent Afghans and American officials here said. Even as
Mr. Obama pours tens of thousands of additional American troops into the
country to help defend Mr. Karzai’s government, Mr. Karzai now often
voices the view that his interests and the United States’ no longer
coincide. </p><p>
Neither Mr. Karzai nor his spokesman, Waheed Omar, could be reached
Monday. But according to Afghan associates, Mr. Karzai recently told
lunch guests at the presidential palace that he believes the Americans
are in Afghanistan because they want to dominate his country and the
region, and that they pose an obstacle to striking a peace deal with the
<a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/t/taliban/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the Taliban." class="meta-org">Taliban</a>.
During the recent American-dominated military offensive in the town of
Marja — the largest of the war — Mr. Karzai stood mostly in the shadows.
</p><p>
Indeed, the recent behavior by Mr. Karzai offers the latest illustration
of the central dilemma that faces the Obama administration in
Afghanistan: how to influence the actions of an ally who they
increasingly regard as unreliable, without undermining America’s
ultimate goals here. </p><p>
“We’re trying to find this balance of keeping pressure on him, without
setting up bluffs that can be called,” said a senior official, who spoke
on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the matter.
“We’re coming to terms with dealing with the Karzai we have.” </p><p>
Perhaps the clearest example of the American dilemma is the graft in Mr.
Karzai’s government. American officials have repeatedly pushed Mr.
Karzai to clean up his government, as Mr. Obama stressed during his
dinner with the Afghan leader. But Mr. Karzai has resisted all but the
most feeble gestures. </p><p>
Some prominent Afghans say that Mr. Karzai now tells associates that the
Americans’ goal here is not to build an independent and peaceful
Afghanistan, but to exercise their power. </p><p>
In January, Mr. Karzai invited about two dozen prominent Afghan media
and business figures to a lunch at the palace. At the lunch, he
expressed a deep cynicism about America’s motives, and of the burden he
bears in trying to keep the United States at bay. </p><p>
“He has developed a complete theory of American power,” said an Afghan
who attended the lunch and who spoke on the condition of anonymity for
fear of retribution. “He believes that America is trying to dominate the
region, and that he is the only one who can stand up to them.” </p><p>
Mr. Karzai said that, left alone, he could strike a deal with the
Taliban, but that the United States refuses to allow him. The American
goal, he said, was to keep the Afghan conflict going, and thereby allow
American troops to stay in the country. </p><p>
The description of the lunch was largely affirmed by two other Afghans
who attended and who also declined to be identified. The person who
described the meeting said some of the participants urged Mr. Karzai to
reconsider his views and his plans to be more assertive with the United
States. “We are a poor country,” he said. “We are depending on the
United States.” </p><p>
Mr. Karzai’s ultimate motives are not always clear. It may be that while
Mr. Karzai supports the Americans presence here, he believes that
distancing himself from the United States plays well among average
Afghans. </p><p>
Though Mr. Karzai won another five-year term last August, he emerged as a
badly bruised leader. Amid widespread allegations of fraud, the
Election Complaint Commission nullified nearly a million votes counted
in his favor. He won after his nearest opponent dropped out of the race.
</p><p>
For their part, officials in the Obama administration have tried to work
with Mr. Karzai even as they have seethed over his failure to crack
down on corruption. Plans for him to visit Washington were well under
way in February, two officials said, when Mr. Karzai issued an order <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9405E0DB103DF937A15751C0A9669D8B63" title="Times article">allowing him to handpick</a> all five members of
the election panel, which uncovered so much fraud in his re-election. </p><p>
The move would have deprived the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/united_nations/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the United Nations." class="meta-org">United
Nations</a> of any oversight over future Afghan elections. The Obama
administration, which had floated several dates for a Karzai visit but
not decided on one, decided to delay it, several officials said. </p><p>
“We wanted to have a great visit,” one official said. “But in order to
have a great visit, we needed to see four or five things happen.” </p><p>
Last week, under Western pressure, Mr. Karzai backpedaled slightly and
agreed to appoint two non-Afghan members to the election commission.
Still, Mr. Karzai is reserving the right to appoint the foreigners
himself; before, that authority rested with the United Nations. And Mr.
Karzai did not restore the spaces once reserved for two other
independent members. </p><p>
Iran is a neighbor of Afghanistan, and American officials say they do
not object to the two countries discussing issues of mutual interest.
“He can be close to us, have a cooperative bilateral relationship with
us, and a good working relationship with his neighborhood,” a senior
American official said. </p><p>
But the recent visit by Mr. Ahmadinejad seemed designed to generate as
much attention as possible — including in Washington. With Mr. Karzai
standing at his side in Kabul, Mr. Ahmadinejad accused the United States
of promoting terrorism. </p>
<nyt_author_id> <div class="authorIdentification"><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p>Dexter Filkins reported from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Mark
Landler from Washington.</p>
</div></nyt_author_id></div></nyt_text></div><br />--
<br />This message has been scanned for viruses and
<br />dangerous content by
<a href="http://www.mailscanner.info/"><b>MailScanner</b></a>, and is
<br />believed to be clean.
</body></html>