Afghan President Lashes out at US 'Threats' --- Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai lashed out at the United States, accusing it of making threats in the dispute over an agreement to keep U.S. troops in the country beyond 2014. -- In an interview published Tuesday by the French daily Le Monde, Karzai says the U.S. is "absolutely" acting like a colonial power in its attempts to force him to sign the bilateral security agreement by the end of this year. The paper quoted him as saying: "The threats they are making, 'We won't pay salaries, we'll drive you into a civil war.' These are threats." -- Washington and NATO officials say the pact is critical to the plan to keep thousands of forces in Afghanistan after 2014 for a training and counterterrorism mission. - More, AP, abcnews