Karzai blocks Rohrabacher's Afghan visit

Karzai told State Depart­ment that the delega­tion would be denied entry if he [Rohrabacher] was includ­ed: aide.

WASHINGTON: A US lawmaker critical of President Hamid Karzai was barred entry to Afghanistan as part of a congressional delegation meeting with Afghan opposition groups, his office said Monday.

Republican Dana Rohrabacher's office said he was a "last-minute" addition to the delegation when one of the members canceled days before traveling. He was prevented from traveling on Friday.

Rohrabacher, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, has been a vocal critic of the "corrupt Karzai government and the US failed strategy of foisting a western-style democracy from a central government in Kabul," his communications director Tara Setmayer told AFP.

Last month, he called for a US investigation into whether Karzai is misappropriating foreign aid funding to benefit himself and his family, at a time when Congress was considering President Barack Obama's 2013 budget proposal that includes $2.5 billion for Afghanistan.

"When Karzai found out Dana was a part of the CODEL (congressional delegation), he told the State Department the entire CODEL would be denied if Rohrabacher was included," Setmayer said.

"So, Secretary (Hillary) Clinton personally relayed Karzai's message and personally petitioned Dana not to continue on with the delegation. Out of respect, he obliged and stayed behind in Dubai."

The delegation continued on without him, and Setmayer said the lawmakers met Sunday with former leaders of the Northern Alliance, which cooperated with the United States to oust the Taliban from power after the September 11 attacks of 2001.

Texas Republican Louie Gohmert was part of the delegation that was in Afghanistan over the weekend, his staff confirmed.

The delegation dispute comes amid rising tensions between Washington and Kabul.

The congressman made headlines recently in Pakistan when he chaired a Congressional hearing on Balochistan, wherein he introduced a resolution in the US House of Representatives calling upon Pakistan to recognise the Baloch right to self determination.

The 130,000-strong US-led NATO force helping the Afghan government fight a decade-long Taliban insurgency is due to end combat operations and pull out by the end of 2014 and the two countries are in talks about their future relations.

Officials on both sides have expressed hope that a strategic partnership agreement governing post-2014 ties could be signed ahead of a NATO summit in Chicago next month.

Negotiations have been further complicated by a US soldier’s murderous rampage that left 17 Afghan villagers dead. Staff Sergeant Robert Bales has since been flown out of the country back to the United States.