Obama tells aides not to be distracted on Afghanistan

US President Barack Obama has told key members of his administration not to be "distracted" by public spats with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, but to focus on shared common goals. A US official signalled on the eve of Karzai's arrival in Washington for a four-day visit, that the United States wanted to overcome the "ups and downs" of its relationship with him and refocus on the fight against the Taliban.
The talks are seen by both sides as a chance to put damaging public rows between Washington and Kabul to rest, though Obama is also expected to privately press Karzai to do more to crack down on corruption.
Obama will offer Karzai all the trappings of a head of state, including Oval Office talks, a joint press conference and a White House luncheon on Wednesday. The visit comes as the US military gears up for a crucial new stage of Obama's strategy to surge 30,000 extra troops into Afghanistan, in a bid to defeat the Taliban and allow US forces to start coming home next year.
The Washington Post first reported on Sunday that Obama told his key foreign policy aides to treat Karzai with more public respect, after the Afghan leader reacted badly to criticisms of him in the press by key officials.
The newspaper said Obama sought to impose discipline on his administration during a White House meeting last month. "I wouldn't say he ordered people to desist," an administration official later told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"He did tell his administration that we need to be focused on working on a collaborative basis with our Afghan partners, and to stay focused on that effort rather than getting distracted.
Obama's talks Wednesday with Karzai will be the first since the Afghan leader infuriated the White House with outspoken outbursts claiming that foreign nations were behind fraud in 2009 elections that returned him to power. It has long been known that some key figures in the Obama administration have mistrusted Karzai and doubt his capacity to crack down on corruption and provide good governance in a stable Afghan government.
In one reported comment, which Washington later said was taken out of context, Karzai threatened to join the Taliban, just days after Obama concluded his first presidential trip to Kabul in late March.
Karzai grew bitter after receiving a copy of comments made by Obama's national security adviser James Jones on the way to Kabul that struck him as insulting, the Post said. Days later, Karzai read in a newspaper article that an unidentified US official was threatening to put Ahmed Wali Karzai, his half-brother, on the military's kill-or-capture list, the paper noted.