Aide Denies Karzai Threatened To Join Taliban

Hamid Karzai's spokesman has denied reports that the Afghan president threatened to join the Taliban insurgency if he were pressured by Western powers.

Karzai spokesman Wahid Omar said the government had been shocked to see the comment appearing in the media, and did not know where it came from.

Karzai's comments, allegedly made in a meeting with lawmakers on April 3, had been widely reported, prompting the White House to say a planned Washington visit might be canceled if Karzai didn't stop blaming the United States for his problems.

Three different Afghan lawmakers told the AP news agency that Karzai twice threatened to join the Taliban if he continued to receive pressure from the United States over ending graft, cronyism, and electoral fraud.

Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper today said Karzai's recent anti-foreign outbursts are "completely unacceptable" to Canada and its allies.

compiled from agency reports