Karzai Limits U.S. Investigations

In a move that could seriously hinder the U.S.'s efforts to root out corruption in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai is seeking to impose rules restricting international involvement in that investigation. Karzai wants the gatekeepers of the law-enforcement agencies to be Afghan, and his chief of staff said foreign advisers' main roles will be "training and coaching, but not decision-making." These changes have alarmed U.S. officials, with one saying this proposal will "effectively neuter" officials in both Kabul and Washington. This latest development comes only a few weeks after one of Karzai's aides, Mohammed Zia Salehi, was arrested on charges that he solicited bribes to quash an investigation into a money-exchange firm. Although U.S. officials have said Afghan officials will the make the final decisions in Salehi's case—and other corruption investigations—Karzai's advisers say the U.S. officials have de facto control over the organizations.