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Although he did not specifically mention the United States, Karzai's harsh words—and his practice of blaming foreigners for the nation's problems—reflect his increasingly difficult relations with Washington and its international allies.
President Barack Obama paid an unannounced visit here Sunday in hopes of setting a new tone in dealings with the Afghan leader, as the U.S.-led coalition prepares for a showdown with the Taliban this summer in its southern stronghold of Kandahar. The Obama administration has maintained a reliable Afghan political partner is critical to turning back the Taliban.
But Karzai's international stature was battered last year after a U.N.-backed watchdog committee threw out nearly a third of his votes in the Aug. 20 presidential election, denying him a first-round victory and forcing him into a runoff, which was canceled after his remaining challenger dropped out.
Karzai's comments, delivered to employees of the state election commission, also sharpened the power struggle with an increasingly independent-minded parliament over whether foreigners will help oversee parliamentary balloting scheduled for September.
On Wednesday, the lower house of parliament canceled a decree Karzai issued in February revoking the authority of the United Nations to appoint most of the members of the election fraud commission that threw out his ballots last year.
During his speech Thursday, Karzai acknowledged there had been "vast fraud" in the August vote, which returned him to office for a second, five-year term. But he blamed the fraud on the U.N. and other foreign organizations, which he suggested were part of an international conspiracy to deny him re-election or tarnish his victory.
"No doubt, there was huge fraud. There was vast fraud. The fraud is not by the Afghans. This fraud has been done by the foreigners," Karzai said, including officials of the U.N., the European Union and "the embassies here in Kabul."
He accused unidentified foreign embassies of trying to bribe members of the Karzai-appointed Independent Election Commission with offers of bulletproof cars in hopes they would block his first-round victory.
"See, this election was occurring during a time where there were threats from the terrorists," Karzai said of the August vote. "It was not only the threat from the terrorists. But seriously, it took place under the threat of foreign interference."
Karzai singled out the former U.N. deputy chief in Afghanistan, Peter Galbraith, and the chief European Union observer, retired French Gen. Philippe Morillon, accusing them of pressuring election authorities. Galbraith, the senior American in the U.N. mission here, was fired last year after accusing his boss, Kai Eide, of downplaying election fraud.
"What this really suggests is that Karzai has a slim connection with reality," Galbraith told The Associated Press by telephone from Rome. "I think it underscores the importance that the upcoming parliamentary elections should be run by nonpartisan election bodies with no Karzai appointees."
Galbraith said any foreign government that helps fund the election without major reforms "is asking for its taxpayers to be defrauded."
"Frankly, I think Karzai is a bit unhinged," he added.
Karzai also said foreigners were looking for excuses not to help fund the September election because they "want a parliament that is weak and for me to be an ineffective president."
Grant Kippen, the Canadian who ran the watchdog body last year, said if Karzai has evidence of impropriety in the August vote, "either Afghan or international," then he has a responsibility "to back this claim up with evidence."
"I would strongly suggest that efforts now concentrate on addressing the problems that were evident in last year's elections and that practical solutions be found that will strengthen the process going forward so that public trust and confidence can be restored," Kippen told the AP in an e-mail.
The Obama administration has long harbored doubts about Karzai, who had been a favorite of the Bush administration after he was installed as head of an Afghan transition administration following the collapse of Taliban rule in late 2001. But Obama was critical of Karzai from the start, stating last December when he announced his troop surge that "the days of providing a blank check are over."
In the weeks before the announcement, the U.S. ambassador to Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, expressed doubts about any troop buildup while there were so many questions about Karzai's leadership and reliability as a partner, according to senior U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Such criticism angered Karzai, encouraging fears the Americans were trying to undermine him ahead of the August election. Although U.S. officials have acknowledged Karzai's legitimacy, his recent visits to China and Iran, as well as hosting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, appeared aimed at showing he has options for support from countries other than the United States.
During his visit last Sunday, Obama urged Afghans to do more to fight corruption, which fuels the Taliban insurgency. But Obama also gave assurances of long-term American support and invited Karzai to visit Washington in May.
"In the Bush years, Karzai never talked of interference," Afghan lawmaker Kabir Rangebar said. "Now the U.S. is looking very closely at Karzai."
Karzai: Foreigners meddled in Afghan elections
President says Western embassies tried to bribe vote commission members
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KABUL - President Hamid Karzai accused the West on Thursday of trying to ruin Afghanistan's 
Karzai's international reputation took a battering last year after a U.N.-backed fraud watchdog threw out a third of the votes cast for him in last year's presidential
"Foreigners will make excuses, they do not want us to have a parliamentary election," a defiant Karzai told a gathering of election officials. "They want parliament to be weakened and battered, and for me to be an ineffective president and for parliament to be ineffective.
"You have gone through the kind of elections during which you were not only threatened with terror, you also faced massive interference from foreigners," Karzai told the officials. "Some embassies also tried to bribe the members of the commission."
He singled out Peter Galbraith, the American former deputy of the U.N. mission in
"There was fraud in the presidential and provincial election, with no doubt there was massive fraud. This wasn't fraud by Afghans but the fraud of foreigners, the fraud of Galbraith, of Morillon and the votes of the Afghan nation were in the control of an embassy," Karzai said.
He accused Galbraith of telling an election official he would be "digging himself an early grave" if Karzai was declared first round winner and said Morillon had tried to block the announcement of results to force Karzai to accept a political alliance.
Hurt support for war
Last year's election stand-off -- which ended when the U.N.-backed body ordered a second round but Karzai's opponent quit -- eroded support in the West for the eight-year-old war. A new election confrontation could further sour public opinion in a decisive year, when Washington is sending an extra 30,000 troops.
Ahead of September's parliamentary poll, Karzai issued a decree in February revoking the power of the United Nations to appoint the majority of members of the election fraud watchdog.
The lower house of parliament rejected Karzai's decree on Wednesday, a move diplomats described as a rebuke for the president, although the motion would still need to pass in the upper house to restore U.N. oversight of the vote.
Karzai told the election officials and reporters his decree was vital to Afghanistan's sovereignty.
The United Nations has called for reforms to Afghanistan's election commission to prevent fraud, before it will agree to free up donor funds needed to pay for the September 18 vote.
Changes to commission
"The foreigners have said if you don't dismiss these men, we will not give you any money," Karzai said, adding he would announce changes to the election commission next week.
Nightmare’ rains flood parts of East Coast
Airport delays, rising rivers and about-to-be-broken rainfall records
Darren McCollester / Getty Images
Residents of this neighborhood in Cranston, R.I., flee the flooding Pawtuxet River on Tuesday.
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CRANSTON, R.I. - The second major rain storm of the month pounded the Northeast on Tuesday, pushing rivers over their banks, closing roads and schools, prompting evacuations and shattering at least one rainfall record.
Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri asked residents to get home by dinnertime to avoid what officials expect to be the worst flooding to hit the state in more than 100 years.
"The worst is still ahead of us," he said during a broadcast carried live on the state's major TV stations. "We're in a serious, serious situation."
National Guard troops were activated in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, where neighborhoods still recovering from earlier flooding were again swamped. Troops in Connecticut also were put on alert.
A storm two weeks ago dropped as much as much as 10 inches of rain on the same region.
The National Weather Service said nearly 13 inches of rain had fallen during March in Boston, breaking the previous record of 11 inches for the month set in 1953.
New York City could also break its March record.
Providence, R.I., had about 7.2 inches of rain from the current storm as of 10 a.m., pushing the monthly rainfall total to 14.7 inches and within an inch of the city's all-time monthly record, set in October 2005, the weather service said.
"This is turning out to be a nightmare," said Steve Kass, spokesman for the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency.
Evacuations and sandbags
Scattered home evacuations were reported in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
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In a water-weary neighborhood along the Pawtuxet River in Cranston, basements were flooded and water at the end of one street was waist deep. One resident hung a sign: "FEMA + State + City of Cranston. Buy our houses."
Brian Dupont, a real estate broker who owns two homes on the street, said he was concerned that the water will rise to the first floors.
"Right now it's bad and getting worse," said Dupont, who with his son put down 30 sandbags around the properties but was not sure how effective they would be.
"We've got a saying, 'Its like trying to shovel against the tide.' It's terrible, terrible." said Dupont, who was afraid the home might now be unsellable.
Standing water was pooling on roadways across the region, making driving treacherous and forcing road closures. Steve Kass, spokesman for the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency, said officials were concerned that Interstate 95, a major East Coast thoroughfare, could end up under water in some sections.
Dam overflows
In Maine, a dam in Porter let loose Tuesday morning, sending a torrent of water down country roads. One road ended up covered with 2 feet of water but no evacuations or injuries were reported.
Water Row, a scenic road running along the Sudbury River in Wayland, Mass., lived up to its name Tuesday as water from the swollen river covered the street.
Bob Irving, the town's police chief and emergency management director, said Water Row and two other low-lying streets along the river had been closed, but no mandatory evacuations had been ordered yet.
During the three-day storm earlier in the month, amphibious Duck Boats like the ones that are used to ferry tourists around downtown Boston were deployed to ferry stranded residents to and from their homes. The boats could be used again if conditions deteriorate, Irving said.
In Connecticut, Norwich officials declared a state of emergency as the Yantic River continued to rise. Officials in Stonington ordered an evacuation of some areas as a precaution against rising flood waters.
Flight, train delays
Weather-related delays of up to three hours were reported at Newark Liberty International Airport, and two hours at New York's La Guardia Airport.
Amtrak said some trains through Rhode Island and Connecticut were running into delays because of high water on the tracks. The delays are on both the regular and high-speed Acela lines.
In New York City, a mud slide caused some interruptions on a commuter rail line in the Bronx.
The rain also caused a run on basement sump pumps at hardware and home improvement stores.
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Jim Tatarczuk, manager of Amesbury Industrial Supply Co. Inc., told The Daily News of Newburyport, Mass., his store would normally stock about 130 pumps for the spring, but he has sold nearly double that already.
"There are people who are still pumping out from the old storm, and now we have more on its way," he said.
President Barack Obama issued disaster declarations for many areas of New England to free up federal aid to residents and households for damages caused by late winter and early spring storms. Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, and low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses.
Wamed Mansour of Paterson, N.J., scrambled Monday to move new computers, phone consoles and fax machines in his office to higher ground — about $10,000 worth of equipment he bought last week to replace what was destroyed earlier this month when his auto parts business flooded with 7 feet of water from the Passaic River.
"It's been a really tiring few weeks, and now it might be all over again," Mansour said.
How many does China execute?
The details of the executions of thousands of people a year is a state secret – and it could be worse than Amnesty fears
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- guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 30 March 2010 13.30 BST
- Article history
Police officers practise executing supposed prisoners with a shot to the head during a police drill in Nanning, Guangxi, southern China. Photograph: AP
You might have heard it said that China executes more people than all other countries in the world put together. Not just a handful, but thousands and thousands of people every single year. This, broadly, is true.
But suppose you actually wanted to find out exactly how many people the People's Republic executes annually. Any chance of getting this information? No. Try asking the Chinese authorities, and you'll get a stern "it's a state secret" rebuff. If you happened to get hold of some solid information (from lawyers in China, for example) you'd then be in possession of a state secret which it would be illegal to make public. It's basically as if there's a super-injunction on the information – not just on the actual information, but anything relating to it.
Amnesty's new report on the death penalty worldwide does its best to cut through the secrecy by estimating that there were "thousands" of executions in China in 2009. Based on sources – which we can't, for safety's sake, reveal – this seems reasonable. But it's still a rough and ready guesstimate. Amazing, given the seriousness of the topic.
China likes to have it both ways. It's been boasting that it has reformed its capital punishment system and that execution numbers are down. But it won't give any figures.
One thing we know – more or less – is that there are approximately 68 offences in China for which you can receive a death sentence. Many are not for lethal crimes – as we saw with the shocking execution of the British man Akmal Shaikh in December for alleged drugs offences. China's capital crimes reportedly include reselling forged VAT receipts, causing damage to public property, and cattle rustling. Three years ago a man was sentenced to death for selling overpriced ants.
However, I don't think a full list exists. That would be far too open for the Chinese authorities. If a proper source ever comes to light, it will be interesting to see if "revealing a state secret, including information about the People's Republic of China's use of capital punishment" is included as a capital crime. It wouldn't surprise me – this Catch 22-like paradox would suit China's secretive use of the death penalty down to the ground.
But here's an ominous thought. State secrets are normally things like defence matters or intelligence issues. What, then, is China so keen to hide on the death penalty?
Could it be that the numbers of people in China going to their deaths before firing squads and in mobile lethal injection chambers is actually far higher than we already feared?
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