Karzai makes light of WikiLeaks saga

Kabul: Afghan President Hamid Karzai attempted to turn the tables on his diplomatic tormentors on Tuesday, jokingly warning them to be careful his conversations about US officials aren't made public by WikiLeaks.

US diplomatic cables, obtained by the WikiLeaks website and published by several media outlets last week, said Karzai's own inner circle considered him weak and sometimes unscrupulous, while the US embassy in Kabul described him as paranoid.

Karzai is known to have an often rocky relationship with US officials, and is also seen as sensitive to criticism. But during an unannounced visit to Afghanistan by British Prime Minister David Cameron, Karzai quipped that those who criticised him might have as much to fear from WikiLeaks.

The cables have been drip-fed to media outlets so far, with Afghanistan, Russia and China among the early victims.

"You should wait for the WikiLeaks for Britain so our conversation with Britain is leaked [about] America," Karzai said. Cameron quickly jumped in to add: "We were very nice about them, just to be clear."

Karzai shot back: "Most of the time."

Karzai's office has said Afghanistan's ties with Washington would not be hurt by the WikiLeaks scandal, although Britain in turn has since found the efforts of its troops criticised.

Cameron shrugged off the release of documents which suggested Karzai's government and US officials thought British troops were "not up to the task" of securing Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold.

He said the comments referred to a time when insufficient British troops were spread too thinly across Helmand, a point now acknowledged by Nato and Afghan officials.