Afghanistan: U.S. Denounces Afghan Expulsion of New York Times Reporter --- The United States sharply criticized the government of Afghanistan on Thursday over its expulsion of Matthew Rosenberg, a New York Times correspondent, calling the move a threat to the country’s budding democratic system and a “regrettable step backward” for its press freedom. -- The criticism, made in a statement by James B. Cunningham, the United States ambassador to Afghanistan, did not explicitly request that the Afghanistan government rescind the decision to expel Mr. Rosenberg, who was given 24 hours to leave on Wednesday. -- But Mr. Cunningham’s statement bluntly reflected American anger with the government of President Hamid Karzai. “I expressed today to President Karzai our strong concern about this unwarranted action,” the ambassador’s statement said. “I asked him to affirm his government’s recognition of the importance of protecting the freedom of the press, as an important part of the legacy of his presidency.” -- Mr. Rosenberg was on a flight out of the country as Mr. Cunningham’s statement was released. The action against him, which The New York Times strongly protested, was the first public expulsion of a Western journalist in Afghanistan since the Taliban was ousted in the American-led invasion nearly 13 years ago. It came as the Afghanistan government is mired in a crisis over a disputed presidential election and as the United States is preparing to withdraw military forces at the end of this year. -- The expulsion order followed an article written by Mr. Rosenberg, published on Tuesday, on discussions among high-ranking officials about a forming an interim government as a possible way to resolve the electoral crisis, a step that would amount to a coup. -- The Afghan attorney general’s office said in a statement that the article was “considered divisive and contrary to the national interest, security and stability of Afghanistan.” But Afghan officials did not deny the article’s accuracy or specify what laws, if any, had been violated by its publication. --- “Freedom of the press and the establishment of a vibrant media environment are important achievements for Afghanistan and its citizens in the country’s first dozen years of democracy,” Mr. Cunningham’s statement said. “These gains are threatened by the decision yesterday by the government of Afghanistan to expel New York Times reporter Matthew Rosenberg. We deplore this decision, which is unjustified and based on unfounded allegations.” -- He called the decision “a regrettable step backward for the freedom of the press in this country.” -- Ambassador Cunningham also said “there is no mistaking the signal this sends to all journalists working in Afghanistan, whether they are Afghan, American, or any other nationality.” -- A few hours earlier, Mr. Rosenberg posted the expulsion order on his Twitter account, which called him a spy with “secret relations” — a new accusation. He also said that as he left, the chief prosecutor of Kabul and the border police escorted him through the Kabul airport immigration check. --- There was no immediate response to Mr. Cunningham’s statement from the Afghanistan government. But Mr. Karzai’s spokesman, Aimal Faizi, who has accused The New York Times of biased coverage, defended the expulsion decision earlier Thursday in a series of posts on his Twitter account and asserted that international journalists were welcome to “operate freely in Afghanistan.” -- Mr. Rosenberg’s use of unidentified sources in his reporting, Mr. Faizi wrote in one post, “has seriously put into question the credibility of the NYT.”