KABUL - An influential lawmaker has demanded an end to US development assistance to Afghanistan if the administration of President Hamid Karzai freed 65 prisoners from the Bagram jail in Parwan province.

Senator Lindsey Graham, speaking at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday, proposed the aid should be suspended until after the April 5 presidential election. “President Karzai has basically sidestepped his own rule of law.”

According to news website Bloomberg, lawmakers of both parties voiced disappointment with Karzai’s increasingly erratic behavior and anti-American tirade.

Karzai could free the prisoners within two days despite objections from US and allied forces, believed the senator from South Carolina.  He has long been a supporter of the US role in Afghanistan. (Pajhwok)