Karzai rails against America in diatribe

President Hamid Karzai accused the United States on Monday of exporting killing to Afghanistan by giving contracts to private security companies. It was the latest chapter of a bitter battle between the president and his allies in the war against the Taliban that has taken on an increasingly anti-Western tone. Tensions escalated on several fronts as the president confirmed at a news conference that he was receiving money from Iran and refused to back down on his deadline to close the security firms. "The money starts in the name of the private security companies in the hallways of the U.S. government ," Mr. Karzai said. "The profits are made and arranged there." The money then goes to private security firms, he said, adding, "then they send the money to kill people here." In his diatribe against the companies, which he described as funded by the American government, he said they were responsible for a litany of bloody crimes against the Afghan people. "When this money comes Afghanistan, it causes insecurity in Afghan homes and causes the killing of Afghan children and causes explosions and terrorism in Afghanistan," said Mr. Karzai in the news conference.