Afghan officials backtrack on comments from Karzai

October 25, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Los Angeles Times

KABUL, Afghanistan

Parsing statements by President Hamid Karzai has become something of a parlor game in the Afghan capital.

The Afghan leader’s office sought Monday to distance him from controversial remarks in a weekend television interview, in which he asserted that Afghanistan would side with Pakistan in a hypothetical war against the United States.

The presidential palace said Karzai’s comments to Pakistan’s Geo TV, aired Saturday, had been “misinterpreted.”

The remarks came toward the end of a lengthy interview conducted in English and Urdu, in which the Afghan leader repeatedly urged Pakistan to move against Islamic militants who take refuge on its soil, according to a transcript released by Karzai’s office.

In response to a question from the Pakistani reporter about whether Afghanistan would support Islamabad in the event of a conflict between Pakistan and the United States, Karzai initially responded, “God forbid,” but then went on to pledge his country’s backing for its neighbor.

“If a war ever breaks [out]between Pakistan and America, we will side [with] Pakistan,” the president said, according to the transcript. “Afghanistan would stand with you. Afghanistan is your brother.”

Though relations between the United States and Pakistan have been tense in recent months, the prospect of armed conflict between the two allies is considered remote.