White House calls Karzai accusations 'genuinely troubling' - washingtopost

KABUL -- Responding to President Hamid Karzai's unusually harsh denunciation of the foreign presence in Afghanistan, the White House said Friday it was deeply troubled by the Afghan leader's remarks and was seeking clarification.

"We have our own national interest in the country," Karzai told a gathering of Afghan election officials in Kabul. "What the foreigners want, and what our national interest is, we have to balance those. If not, our national interests are undermined."

During the visit, Obama made five requests of Karzai. In addition to cracking down on corruption, Obama asked Karzai to take further steps to give provincial and local governments more power, to clarify his plan for reintegrating Taliban fighters into Afghan society and to ensure that two international observers maintain seats on Afghanistan's two main elections oversight commissions.

White House calls Karzai remarks 'troubling'
Karzai denounces foreign presence :