Karzai moves concern U.S. officials

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. officials expressed worry that Afghan President Hamid Karzai's move to take control of corruption investigations could provoke a diplomatic crisis.

Officials said Karzai's decision may lead to the biggest crisis since last year's fraud-riddled election and could jeopardize U.S. congressional approval of billions of dollars in aid, The Washington Post reported Friday.

U.S. concern grew when Karzai this week ordered an investigation of two anti-corruption units involved in the recent arrests of several senior government officials on graft and bribery charges. Karzai said the investigators, helped by U.S. law enforcement advisers and wiretap technology, acted beyond the scope of the Afghan constitution.

Afghanistan's attorney general said Thursday Karzai would issue a decree outlining new regulations for the Major Crimes Task Force and Special Investigative Unit.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who discussed the matter with Karzai this week, said the two anti-corruption bodies "represent important progress … and any steps to undercut or remove powers or authorities from them would be a step backwards," a senior administration official.

Rep. Nita Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., cited similar concerns about corruption when the House Appropriations subcommittee she leads withheld approval of an administration request for nearly $4 billion in non-military aid to Afghanistan for fiscal 2011.

The request wouldn't go forward "until I get clearance that the promises and commitments that have been made by the Afghan government to work in good faith to stop corruption have taken place," Lowey told the Post.

She said funds already in the pipeline and a supplemental appropriation President Obama signed last week allow civilian operations in Afghanistan to continue into the fall.