MPs say Karzai could alienate Britons

By Avril Ormsby

LONDON (Reuters) - President Hamid Karzai is in danger of alienating British public commitment to Afghanistan if he continues to make outspoken comments, a group of politicians said on Thursday.

Political relations between the two countries have "slightly soured" they said, after a series of diplomatic spats including criticism of British forces working to defeat the Taliban and helping in the country's reconstruction.

"There is a risk that the tone and timing of recent comments by the government of Afghanistan which are critical of the UK could undermine British public support for the UK's long-term commitment to Afghanistan," the International Development Committee said in a report.

Relations should be a "spirited partnership rather than sparky", Committee Chairman Malcolm Bruce later said on BBC radio.

Karzai has questioned some of the policies adopted by British troops in Helmand province and last month rejected Paddy Ashdown, the former Liberal Democrat leader and EU envoy to Bosnia, for the post of senior U.N. envoy.

Relations were also strained when Afghanistan declared two men, including a Briton working for the EU, "persona non grata" after they were accused of meeting Taliban members.

More than 70 British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan.

"I think the combination of criticism of our forces from some while back in spite of recent successes, the rejection of Paddy Ashdown as an international coordinator and the expulsion of two diplomats who were actually working with Afghan authorities has created a slight sourness which really is not in the best interest," Bruce added.