White House still open to Karzai visit, despite 'stupid' drug-use claims

By Michael Sheridan
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sunday, April 11th 2010, 11:09 AM

Zatorsk, Motevalli/Getty

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insisted on 'Face the Nation' on Sunday that the White House is still looking to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in May.

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The Obama administration may be looking to get its relationship with President Hamid Karzai back on track.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insisted on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday that the door was still open for the embattled Afghan leader to visit the White House in May.

"We're looking forward to his visit," she told Bob Schieffer, referring to him as a "reliable partner."

This was a far more friendly tone than the one seen last week, which had White House spokesman Robert Gibbs describing Karzai as simply "the democratically elected leader of Afghanistan."

Gibbs also warned the White House would "evaluate" further rantings from Karzai to decide if it would be "constructive" to host a planned May meeting for Karzai there.

But Clinton's more firm commitment to the meeting suggested a softening by the White House on Karzai, whose seemingly erratic behavior recently was described by one ex-United Nations diplomat as indications he could be using drugs.

"[Karzai's] prone to tirades. He can be very emotional, act impulsively," said Peter Galbraith, former deputy head of the U.N. in Afghanistan.

"Some of the palace insiders say that he has a certain fondness for some of Afghanistan's most profitable exports," he added.

According to a recent U.N. report, Afghanistan produces nearly 3,500 tons of hash. The country is also believed to produce nearly 90 percent of the world's heroin.

The claim of illegal drug use by Karzai was directly attacked by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who also appeared in "Face the Nation."

"This statement about the drugs and so on is just stupid," he said.

This comes on the heels of last week, when State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley made an effort to distance the White House from Galbraith's remark.

Karzai "is the president of Afghanistan. He's been significantly engaged with us on a regular basis," he said.

"We have no information to support the charges that Peter Galbraith has leveled.”

msheridan@nydailynews.com

With James Gordon Meek, Michael McAuliff and Richard Sisk