Senior Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher has been refused entry to Afghanistan due to his stringent criticism of the government of President Hamad Karzai.
The chairman of the House foreign affairs subcommittee was to lead a fact-finding mission to the war-torn country. He was the only member who was denied a visa.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave him a message from Karzai on Friday when he was in Dubai, from where the group was to fly to Kabul, the
BBC reported. The message is said to have told Rohrabacher he would not be welcome in the country.
Rohrabacher, who's from California, has been a leading critic of corruption in Afghanistan, The Karzai government said it was denying Rohrabacher access as his presence could “undermine national unity.”
Afghan officials told the BBC that one of the reasons for refusing Rohrabacher access was due to a meeting he had held in Berlin with Afghan politicians about decentralizing the country’s government.
"Anyone who speaks against the good of Afghanistan and tries to interfere in our internal affairs is ineligible for an Afghan visa," a government official told the BBC.
Rohrabacher has been involved in Afghanistan since the 1980s when he worked in the Reagan White House. He frequently visited the country to support the mujahideen in its fight against Soviet invaders.
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