Afghan President Hamid Karzai and US envoy Richard Holbrooke engaged in a testy exchange over recent elections, a source said, underscoring potentially cooler US ties if Karzai wins another term.
Holbrooke, a veteran US diplomat who is the special envoy to the region, pressed the Afghan leader on last week’s elections amid allegations of widespread vote-rigging, an official with knowledge of the meeting said.
“It was a difficult meeting and there were some sharp exchanges in it,” the official said in Washington on condition of anonymity.
Holbrooke met with all of the candidates in Afghanistan’s second-ever presidential election and shared a meal with Karzai on Aug. 21, the day after the vote.
“The thrust of the meeting was to respect the electoral process, let it take its course and be patient and to respect the results, whatever they are,” the US official said.
The official said Holbrooke reiterated to each candidate the public US line that Washington was neutral in the race and steered clear of recommending any new vote while waiting for complete results.
Karzai, who has led Afghanistan since the aftermath of the 2001 US-led military operation that ousted the extremist Taliban regime, enjoys a narrow lead as results trickle in.
His main competitor, former Afghan foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, has railed against what he says is vast state-engineered fraud but has urged his supporters to be patient and work through the electoral system.
Karzai enjoyed a warm relationship with former US president George W. Bush, with whom he often consulted by videoconference. Bush’s ambassador to Kabul, Zalmay Khalizad, was a frequent dinner guest of Karzai.
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