'Karzai critic' US Congressmen Rohrabacher barred from entering Afghanistan

Washington - US Congressmen Dana Rohrabacher, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has said that he was barred from entering into Afghanistan because of his critical views over that country's government.

"Apparently, (Afghanistan President Hamid) Karzai just goes bananas every time he hears that I might be, in some way, coming into his country," Politico quoted Rohrabacher, a longtime critic of Karzai, as saying.

According to the report, Rohrabacher suspected that Karzai was picking on him because he had opened a House investigation into corruption not only within the Afghan government but also Karzai himself.

According to the story initially reported by The BBC, Rohrabacher was stopped in Dubai on Friday as part of congressional delegation on its way to Kabul.

Rohrabacher, the California Republican, was a last minute addition to the trip after another member dropped out a few days earlier.

Rohrabacher said that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton personally relayed Karzai's message urging him not to join the delegation given how sensitive the relations between the two governments have been, particularly in light of alleged massacre of Afghan civilians by US Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales and the accidental burning of the Koran.