Following in Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s footsteps, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice phoned Afghan President Hamid Karzai seeking a “favorable resolution” of the Abdul Rahman case. Not sure why President Bush wasn’t on the line. But at least someone called.

Fox News has the story.

More details from the NYT:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke this morning with President Hamid Karzai and discussed the affair “in the strongest possible terms,” said the State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack.

“She called specifically on this topic,” Mr. McCormack said. “And she urged President Karzai’s government to seek a favorable resolution to this case the earliest possible moment.” Mr. McCormack said Ms. Rice also told Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister, Abdullah Abdullah, in a 15-minute meeting in Washington today that she was deeply troubled by the case, and that the prosecution was “contrary to universal democratic values,” which include freedom of religion. Ms. Rice said that the United States fought for those values in Afghanistan, and that the case was contrary to the Afghan constitution, Mr. McCormack said.

The same message came today from the White House, where President Bush’s chief spokesman, Scott McClellan, said the Afghan case “clearly violates the universal freedoms that democracies around the world hold dear. And we are watching it very closely.”

On Wednesday, President Bush issued a statement that the United States expected Afghan officials to “honor the universal principle of freedom” in the case. Germany, Italy and other countries that have deployed troops in Afghanistan have also issued statements of concern.

comments (0)   trackbacks (16)