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Afghanistan government warns of leaked cables’ effects on ties

The cabinet of Afghanistan issued a warning to the media of the effects leaked diplomatic cables will have on ties between their country and the US Afghanistan’s finance minister Omar Zakhilwal says business will no longer be as usual between the Afghan administration and US ambassador Karl Eikenberry once videos of Afghan president Hamid Karzai and his cabinet being unruly are released openly in public. Zakhilwal categorically denies the report by a US embassy cable dated on the 26^th of February this year that he belittled the Afghan president as an “extremely weak man” who prefers to listen to almost anyone telling stories of plots against his life, instead of examining facts.

Meanwhile, diplomats for the US based in Kabul, Afghanistan are infuriated with the WikiLeaks site for having caused undue damage to international ties by leaking the said dispatches. Even more problematic are the careless and harmful comments made by cabinet officials about the president, which includes the finance ministry, that may eventually result in completely capable officials losing their administrative posts. A western diplomat commented that Zakhilwal may or may not choose to resign as any honorable man would do in other “normal” countries. Eikenberry on the other hand has been busy undertaking pre-emptive damage control.

The US ambassador issued a statement recently that the US is completely focused on maintaining strong business relationship over the long term with Afghanistan people and administration. Eikenberry also stressed that the leaked videos do not in any way displace their current initiatives and shared goals with the country. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meanwhile talked to the Afghan president over the phone to re-pledge US conviction to their ties.