Calling Article ‘Divisive,’ Afghanistan Orders Expulsion of Times Correspondent --- KABUL, Afghanistan — The attorney general of Afghanistan on Wednesday ordered the expulsion of an American correspondent for The New York Times, Matthew Rosenberg, and barred him from re-entering the country. -- The action, the first public expulsion of a Western journalist since the Taliban regime, came less than a day after the office of the attorney general, Mohammad Ishaq Aloko, issued an order prohibiting Mr. Rosenberg from leaving the country while he was under investigation. -- Both orders related to an article written by Mr. Rosenberg that was published Tuesday by The Times. It said that high-ranking government officials were discussing forming an interim government as a possible resolution to the country’s current electoral crisis — an action that would effectively amount to a coup. -- The Afghan presidential election has been mired in recriminations, with the top two candidates claiming victory and accusing each other of fraud. -- Mr. Aloko’s office on Wednesday released a statement to news organizations — not including The Times — that accused Mr. Rosenberg of writing an “article that is considered divisive and contrary to the national interest, security and stability of Afghanistan.” The statement said the “attorney general decided that Matthew Rosenberg should leave the country within the next 24 hours, and he will not be allowed to re-enter the country.” -- The statement suggested that Mr. Rosenberg, 40, had presented his opinion in the article while “falsely attributing it to high-level government officials.” The article was based on high-ranking Afghan government sources, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because of fears of prosecution for sedition if their names were used, as Mr. Rosenberg noted in the article. -- A statement issued by the office of President Hamid Karzai, while not mentioning the expulsion, quoted the president as telling the head of the United Nations here, Jan Kubis, that a recent article in The New York Times “showed foreign interference and conspiracy in order to destabilize Afghanistan.” -- “This kind of article should not be allowed,” the statement read. -- Mr. Aloko’s own statement did not specify what, if any, laws had been broken, or what legal grounds there might be for such an expulsion, which is unprecedented in the 13 years of the government of Mr. Karzai. -- The attorney general’s statement said the decision had been made because Mr. Rosenberg “didn’t cooperate well during the interrogations” carried out by the attorney general’s office on Tuesday. -- Dean Baquet, the executive editor of The Times, criticized the Afghan government’s action. -- government’s action. -- He said that Mr. Rosenberg would continue to report on Afghanistan and that “we’re appalled that a government would kick a reporter out for doing his job.” -- Aimal Faizi, a spokesman for President Karzai, said the decision to expel Mr. Rosenberg was made “at the very highest level,” which he said included not only the president, but also both vice presidents and several central ministers, who had a series of meetings since the publication of the article on Tuesday. -- “What is understood is that you are following a deep state agenda,” he said, emphasizing that he was referring to The Times generally and not just to Mr. Rosenberg. “I don’t want to go into it, but that is what is understood and that is what is seen.” -- Mr. Faizi’s “deep state” euphemism has often been used by some anti-American Afghans to refer to efforts by the American government to interfere in Afghan affairs. - More, NYTimes, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/21/world/asia/afghanistan-orders-expulsion-of-new-york-times-correspondent.html?_r=0