Last month, Afghan President Hamid Karzai denied Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) entry into Afghanistan because, a spokesperson for the Afghan government said, the California congressman “speaks against the good of Afghanistan and tries to interfere in our internal affairs.”
Rohrabacher reportedly tried to push Karzai to incorporate warlords into his government and urged the Afghan president to institute a “federalist decentralization of power.”
Last night on CNN during an interview with host Wolf Blitzer, who was incensed that Karzai blocked Rohrabacher from entering Afghanistan, Karzai said he wouldn’t be changing his mind on the issue:
BLITZER: So you’re not going to let him back into your country, Dana Rohrabacher?
KARZAI: Definitely not.
BLITZER: Ever, ever?
KARZAI: Until he changes his [inaudible], until he shows respect to the Afghan people, to our way of life and to our constitution. No foreigner has a place asking another people, another country, to change their constitution.
Blitzer asked Karzai about “the concept of freedom of speech.” “The freedom of speech is good,” Karzai said, adding, “But the freedom of speech with regard to other countries is another issue.” Watch the clip:
Rohrabacher complained last month that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “should have stoop up” to Karzai, whom he referred to as a “prima donna,” and fought to get him into Afghanistan.
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