In an interview today on CNN, Afghan President Hamid Karzai was asked about reports that Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R – CA) is banned from entering Afghanistan. Karzai confirmed the ban, and went on to say that:
“A democratically elected congressman of the United States of America should not be talking of an ethnic divide in Afghanistan, should not be interfering in Afghanistan’s internal affairs, should not be asking the Afghan people to have a federal structure as against what the Afghan constitution has asked for, should not be speaking disrespectfully about the Afghan people or the various ethnic groups in Afghanistan.” He went on to say that the US would never allow anyone critical of its constitution to visit either.
Rohrabacher responded by saying that he would never apologize to Karzai or his “corrupt clique of irresponsible leaders.” He added that it was ridiculous to say a foreigner shouldn’t have a say in the Afghan constitution since a foreigner, former US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, wrote it in the first place.