Amid a series of anti-US rhetorics coming from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the White House showed signs of "frustration" on Monday with regard to this war-torn country, where its forces have been engaged in war against terrorism for the past eight years.
"On behalf of the American people, we're frustrated," the White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters when asked if the Obama administration is concerned about the recent anti-US remarks of the Afghan President.
Gibbs was responding to comments made by Karzai in a meeting with Afghan lawmakers last week.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Karzai said that the Taliban could gain strength if the US doesn't stop meddling and even threatened to join with them if his government doesn't support him in taking control of the UN election watchdog in his country.
"The remarks are troubling and the substance of the remarks is simply not true," Gibbs said, adding that a White House meeting with Karzai is still scheduled for May 12.
The US has laid out clear benchmarks for the Afghan government and will continue to work toward them, Gibbs said.
He said there was no indication that Karzai felt this way when President Barack Obama met with him on March 28 in Kabul.
Gibbs underlined that Karzai is the democratically elected president of Afghanistan and that the US will continue to work with him on the benchmarks "in order to ensure the security of the Afghan people."
He declined to comment on specifics about a report that said Special Operations dug bullets out of the bodies of three Afghan women who were killed in a February assault gone wrong.
Asked if Obama still has confidence in him, Gibbs said, "President Karzai is the elected leader of Afghanistan."
