WASHINGTON, February 26 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Senior Republican lawmaker Chuck Hagel on Wednesday, February 26, accused the Bush administration of having primed Afghan President Hamid Karzai to present a rosy picture of the progress his country has made since U.S.-led forces threw out the Taliban in 2001.

"My guess is he has been told by U.S. government officials he needs to put a very positive face on what's going on," Hagel told reporters after Karzai testified before the Senate Foreign Relations committee, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

At first, lawmakers effusively greeted Karzai, who swept into the room wearing his traditional long-sleeved green-and-white striped cape and followed by a swarm of aides and security officers.

Committee chairman Republican Senator Richard Lugar welcomed him as someone who "personifies the optimism, the rich cultural heritage and the heroic determination of the Afghan people".

But as Karzai, seated alone at a table facing the senators with members of his government and staff seated in rows behind him, consistently responded to lawmakers' questions with glowing reports of the progress his country had made in the past year, the U.S. lawmakers grew concerned.

"You know, there aren't many more chances here," Hagel told the Afghan leader, advising Karzai to be more forceful in his upcoming meeting with President George W. Bush.

"If you leave the impression all is going well, your credibility will be in question," Hagel warned, a recommendation echoed by Democratic Senator Chirstopher Dodd.

But as Senator Russell Feingold noted during the 90-minute hearing, Karzai seemed aware that he was not only "a symbol of hope for your community, you are a symbol of hope for our country, especially after 9/11."

Not only that, Hagel said, given the negative state of the U.S. economy, Karzai had to be careful not to come across as someone ungrateful for the financial aid the United States had granted Afghanistan.

Since October, 2001, Washington has granted Kabul some 600 million dollars in aid, and in December, Bush signed the Afghan Freedom Support Act, authorizing another 3.3 billion dollars over the next four years.

"He's in a delicate spot," Hagel acknowledged, adding nevertheless that Karzai "needs to be clear as to what his needs are."

Don’t Forget Afghanistan: Karzai

Karzai on Wednesday candidly told the United States not to repeat past mistakes by abandoning Afghanistan, and warned that inattention could again reduce his country to a terror-haven.

"Whatever you do in Iraq should not reduce your attention on Afghanistan," said Karzai.

"If you reduce attention because of Iraq in Afghanistan and if you leave the whole thing to us, to fight again, it will be repeating the mistakes the U.S. made during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

"Once the Soviets left, the Americans left, the consequence of that was what you saw in Afghanistan, in the United States, and the rest of the world."

"We need to finish the job, Afghanistan is not out of the woods, we have to stay with it," Karzai said.

"The United States must remain committed with Afghanistan in order to make sure terrorism is defeated."