Afghan President Hamid Karzai left for Washington Sunday on a four-day visit, his office said, aiming to mend ties after a damaging row over his criticism of foreign partners. Karzai will meet President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defence Secretary Robert Gates. He is accompanied by more than a dozen government ministers, his office said in a statement.
The visit is Karzai's first since he made a string of outspoken criticisms alleging that foreign nations had orchestrated fraud in the elections that returned him to power last year, comments that infuriated Washington.
With the United States pouring thousands more troops into Afghanistan ahead of a decisive operation in Kandahar the Taliban's heartland - both sides have stressed the importance of the White House meeting on Wednesday. A Karzai spokesman last week described it as "extremely important". The Washington Post reported on Sunday that Obama had asked his security team to treat Karzai with more public respect following the row.
Comments
Comments are closed.