Afghans unfazed by envoys’ cables detailing corruption, vote-rigging

KABUL - Afghans appear to be unfazed by Western diplomats detailing their private gripes about President Hamid Karzai’s personality and peccadilloes.

“It’s not a constructive relationship anyway. So many bad things have already been said in this relationship that it’s absolutely damaged already,” the Globe and Mail quoted Fawzia Koofi, a women’s activist and member of the Afghan parliament, as saying.

Over the past week, the online whistleblower Wikileaks has published reams of secret U.S. diplomatic cables.

They catalogue the frustrations of Kabul-based ambassadors with Karzai and unvarnished descriptions of what they view as his erratic behaviour and acquiescence in official corruption.

The release of the classified documents caused panic in Washington that the already rocky relations with Karzai would become even more difficult, and just at a time when the U.S.-led coalition needs his co-operation to chart an exit from the war.

Allegations of corruption, nepotism and vote-rigging - all cited in the diplomats’ purloined cables - have been repeatedly made by Afghans as well.

The leaked cables are unlikely to lead to a crisis in diplomatic relations because Karzai has become impervious to outside criticism, according to Afghan politicians. (ANI)