Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan has offered to resign his post ahead of potentially damaging revelations in an upcoming WikiLeaks release, Canada's The Globe and Mail newspaper reported.
William Crosbie has warned Ottawa that information in one of the U.S. diplomatic cables could damage his country's relations with Afghanistan, .
In a yet-to-be-released document, the ambassador reportedly was very critical of Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai and his powerful family, the newspaper reported.
"My words about Karzai and the influence of his family may attract attention, and they will be damaging for our relations with him and his government if they do so," Crosbie said in a note to Ottawa, a copy of which the newspaper obtained.
'Potentially cataclysmic fallout'
The envoy worried about how Karzai would react to his comments.
"Much depends on how Karzai reacts to the WikiLeaks. Will they cause him to take steps that will be unacceptable for our ongoing support? There are several critical decision points in the coming weeks," the newspaper reported.
Crosbie said U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry briefed Kabul diplomats on "potentially cataclysmic fallout" from the whistle-blower's revelation, the newspaper reported. Eikenberry reportedly said he was afraid that the revelations could antagonize Karzai and force him into a stand-off with Western allies.
T he Globe and Mail reported that in one cable, Crosbie criticizes Karzai and his family, including his half-brother and Kandahar power-broker Ahmed Wali Karzai .
"The message is a report of a lengthy meeting on Feb. 20, 2010, in which I speak in very critical terms about the misuse of power by Karzai and his family (AWK is named) and urge the international community to oppose Karzai's attempts to take control of the electoral law in advance of the [parliamentary] elections," Mr. Crosbie wrote, according the The Globe and Mail.
American criticism
WikiLeaks has also revealed stinging criticism of Karzai by American diplomats.
T he New York Times reported Thursday that after earlier glowing praise for Karzai, Eiken berry offered blunt criti cisms of him i n a July 2009 cable.
“It remains to be seen whether Karzai can or will refrain from this ‘blame America’ tactic he uses to deflect criticism of his administration,” “Indeed, his inability to grasp the most rudimentary principles of state-building and his deep seated insecurity as a leader combine to make any admission of fault unlikely, in turn confounding our best efforts to find in Karzai a responsible partner.”
The Times also reported that Britis h, Australian and Arab state diplomats also expressed exasperation with Karzai.
A cable released Tuesday said President Karzai freed dangerous detainees and pardoned suspected drug dealers because they had connections to powerful figures.
The cable, which supports the multiple allegations of corruption within the Karzai government, said that despite repeated rebukes from U.S. officials in Kabul, the president and his attorney general authorized the release of detainees.
"Both authorize the release of detainees pretrial and allow dangerous individuals to go free or re-enter the battlefield without ever facing an Afghan court," said the cable written on Aug. 6, 2009 by Frank Ricciardone, deputy U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.
The policemen were tried, convicted and each was sentenced to 16 to 18 years in prison, but Karzai "pardoned all five of them on the grounds that they were distantly related to two individuals who had been martyred during the civil war," the cable said.
According to the cable, Karzai also tampered with the narcotics case of Haji Amanullah, the son of a wealthy businessman and one of the president's supporters.
"Without any constitutional authority, Karzai ordered the police to conduct a second investigation which resulted in the conclusion that the defendant had been framed," Ricciardone wrote.
He wrote that intelligence reports indicated that Karzai also was planning to release Ismail Safad, a drug trafficker sentenced to 19 years in jail. Safad was a priority target for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency who was arrested in 2005 with large quantities of heroin and weapons.
Abdul Makhtar, deputy director of the Afghan prison department, said Safad was still incarcerated at Pul-i Charkhi prison, the main detention facility in Kabul.