Kabul, April 08: The Afghan government says the country’s relations with its western allies have not been influenced over President Hamid Karzai’s remarks about election fraud.
“It did not have any effect on the strategic relations with the United States and the international community,” Karzai’s chief spokesman Waheed Omer said Wednesday.
The Afghan president accused the West of committing election fraud in last year’s presidential election.
Last week, Karzai said foreigners had bribed and threatened election workers to carry out fraud in the vote.
Omer said Karzai made his remarks to avoid a repeat of fraud allegations in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
“When it comes to fraud in elections, you know, there (were) lots of discussions over the past six or seven months … one-sided views mainly made by certain figures that I will not name here,” said Omer.
Those figures “do not necessarily represent the country or represent any international organization,” he added.
To ease tensions between Kabul and Washington, US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said on Wednesday that a planned trip by Karzai to Washington next month would go ahead.
However, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday the US may cancel the visit.
——-Agencies