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Biden in Afghanistan: US military
AFP - 2 hours 36 minutes ago
KABUL (AFP) - - US vice president-elect Joe Biden arrived in Afghanistan Saturday for talks with President Hamid Karzai and senior military officials involved in the fight against extremists, the US military said.
Biden, due to take office alongside Barack Obama in under two weeks, arrived early Saturday on a one-day visit, US military spokesman Colonel Greg Julian said.
Details of the senator's trip, which follows a visit to Pakistan on Friday, had been kept under wraps, most likely for security reasons.
"He is making a trip through the region and meeting with the leadership and making initial introductions," Julian said.
Biden had already met with US General David McKiernan who is at the helm of international military efforts to fight extremists trying to overthrow the Western-backed government, he said.
It could not be immediately confirmed if he had also met Karzai.
The senator met Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and other top Pakistani leaders in Islamabad on Friday for talks that included that country's contribution to the US-led "war on terror."
Zardari told Biden that "Pakistan was committed to fighting terrorism and extremism in its own interest," his office said in a statement.
Biden in turn assured Zardari that the new US administration would support Pakistan's counter-terrorism efforts, adding that Washington recognised Islamabad's "important contribution and sacrifices in the fight".
He takes office on January 20 alongside president-elect Obama who has called for a new focus on efforts in Afghanistan to fight the Taliban who were able to regroup after their 2001 ouster from government in a US-led invasion.
Afghanistan is looking forward to a shift in US strategy with the installation of the new Democratic administration and has been heartened by Obama's pledges to launch military strikes on extremist bases inside Pakistan.
Karzai has for years called for more focus on militant sanctuaries in Pakistan's lawless rugged tribal areas that are home to hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda extremists who fled Afghanistan after the Taliban's fall.
Obama has also backed commanders' calls for more troops to be sent to Afghanistan with a shift expected this year from Iraq and to this country to stem an insurgency that has rebounded over the past two years.
About 20,000 to 30,000 more US soldiers due to begin arriving from spring, adding to the roughly 70,000 international troops that are already in Afghanistan.
Many of the new soldiers are expected to be deployed to the south, where troops are under pressure and several areas are out of government control.
All of the 10 international troops killed in Afghanistan this year lost their lives in the south. In the latest incident a bomb blew up a military vehicle on Friday and killed three US soldiers.
Karzai, who is due to face reelection this year, has also urged Obama's administration to move to end civilian casualties in the military action -- most often air strikes -- against insurgents.
"My first demand from the US president, when he takes office, would be to end civilian casualties in Afghanistan and take the war to places where there are terrorist nests and training centres," Karzai said in November after Obama's victory.
Last year was the bloodiest of the Taliban's insurgency, with bomb attacks doubling to roughly 2,000 according to US officials, feeding criticisms of internationally funded efforts to help the country.
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