Karzai meets Obama on way ahead in Afghan war

[May 12, 2010]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai is meeting President Barack Obama in the White House after a day of intensive talks at the State Department and a visit with wounded U.S. troops.

Obama and Karzai were expected to try to set aside their differences during their meeting Wednesday following a year in which the White House grew estranged from the Kabul government it was fighting to defend.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton conceded Tuesday that U.S. relations with Afghanistan are strained but assured Karzai that the U.S. will stand behind his country long after the last American soldier is gone.

And she pointedly said at an evening reception at the State Department, with Karzai at her side, that the enormous sums of military and humanitarian assistance offered to Afghanistan by a wide range of nations and international organizations are a "great vote of confidence in you" -- and in his government.

The Obama administration in the past criticized Karzai for tolerating corruption and drug trafficking, while Karzai has accused Washington of failing to give him the support he needs to govern.

Both countries see extremist elements like the Taliban as a threat, but they have starkly different views of how to deal with them. The Obama administration intends to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan next year but is wary of any peace deal that includes unrepentant Taliban leaders.

Karzai, meanwhile, sees reconciliation with militants as his country's best hope for a lasting peace and worries that the U.S. and its NATO allies will leave Afghanistan to fend for itself once any deal is struck.

Clinton and Karzai on Tuesday both stressed the positive but acknowledged that sharp differences have complicated efforts to stabilize Afghanistan more than eight years after the Taliban regime was toppled.

"The ability to disagree on issues of importance to our respective countries and peoples is not an obstacle to achieving our shared objectives," Clinton said in opening remarks Tuesday. "Rather, it reflects a level of trust that is essential to any meaningful dialogue and enduring strategic partnership."

Karzai agreed it was natural for Kabul and Washington to see the situation differently while working together toward the same goals.

"As two mature nations and two mature governments -- by now the Afghan government is mature, too -- we will be having disagreements from time to time," Karzai said.

The Afghan leader also visited wounded U.S. soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In remarks afterward at the State Department, he spoke in emotional terms of his gratitude for U.S. sacrifices.

"To see those young American soldiers, some with very young babies and children, one who just lost both legs, the other who lost both arms and legs, it is really painful experience, an extremely painful wound for me," Karzai said. "I wish that we will have no more people losing their lives and limbs like that."

Karzai also plans a visit Friday to Fort Campbell, Ky., home of the 101st Airborne Division, which is deploying to Afghanistan over the next several weeks.

Clinton's pledge of a long-term U.S. commitment to Afghanistan addresses one of Kabul's major concerns. Many Afghans see the war as a conflict pursued by Washington for its own interests -- to forestall another terrorist attack on the U.S. Afghans fear the U.S. will abandon them once they achieve their objectives.

"We will not abandon the Afghan people," Clinton said. "Our civilian commitment will remain long into the future."

Karzai, meanwhile, has said overtures to the Taliban are crucial but stand little chance of success without the support of the U.S. and NATO.

It's not clear how far apart the U.S. and Afghan positions remain, but the Obama administration has shown no sign that it is ready to make peace with top Taliban leadership.

At the State Department Tuesday, U.S. and Afghan officials also discussed strategies for boosting Afghan agriculture and rural development, education and health, as well as for battling corruption.

[Associated Press; By ROBERT BURNS and MATTHEW LEE]

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