Karzai's Office Denies Threat to Join Taliban

Hamid Karzai's spokesman denied reports that the Afghan leader threatened to join the Taliban insurgency if he were pressured further by foreign backers, in an apparent attempt Wednesday to calm worsening tensions with Washington.

Karzai's comments, allegedly made in a meeting with lawmakers on Saturday, had been widely reported by The Associated Press and others, prompting the White House to say a planned Washington visit might be canceled if Karzai didn't stop blaming the U.S. for his problems.

However, Karzai spokesman Waheed Omar said Karzai's government had been shocked to see the comment appearing in media outlets, and did not know where it came from.

The Afghanistan government has put "fighting against terror and fighting against those who put the lives of Afghan people in danger as priority No. 1," Omar told a news conference.

"And in that context, that comment, whoever has come up with that comment, does not make sense," Omar said.

Three different Afghan lawmakers told the AP that Karzai twice threatened to join the Taliban insurgency if the U.S. continued pressuring him publicly to do more to end graft, cronyism and electoral fraud.

CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante reports tension has been building since the President Obama's quick visit to Afghanistan 10 days ago, when U.S. officials made it clear they are unhappy with Karzai's failure to clean up corruption.

The U.S. leader's unexpected visit to Kabul may have caused a loss of face that added to the Afghan leader's indignation when parliament refused to approve a motion giving him greater control over the country's electoral institutions.

"I think Karzai got angry when he felt… in his eyes for the umpteenth time, we were berating him in public for a way of governing his country that at one time we actually agreed with and encouraged," Michael O'Hanlon, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told CBS News.

Meanwhile, a former U.N envoy to Afghanistan, Peter Galbraith, told MSNBC on Tuesday that he believes Karzai may have a substance abuse problem.

"He's prone to tirades. He can be very emotional, act impulsively. In fact, some of the palace insiders say that he has a certain fondness for some of Afghanistan's most profitable exports," Galbraith said - apparently referring to opium, or its derivative heroin.

Also Wednesday, the Afghan government announced that the controversial head of Afghanistan's official election commission has resigned ahead of parliamentary polls expected in September.

Karzai offered to extend Azizullah Lodin's term, but Lodin declined the offer, Omar told journalists.

Lodin had been Karzai's pick to head the commission, which was then accused of ignoring massive ballot stuffing and other fraud during last year's disputed presidential election. A separate independent Electoral Complaints Commission stripped Karzai of one-third of his votes due to the cheating suspicions, forcing a runoff that was aborted after his main opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew after saying there was no way a second round would be fair.

Meanwhile, a suicide attack Wednesday on a NATO convoy passing through the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad killed a civilian and wounded 15 others, officials said. One of the vehicles and several nearby shops were damaged.