Obama meets Afghanistan’s Karzai

Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, met Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday and told him Afghanistan is central to the fight against terrorism, aides to the Afghan leader said.

Obama’s two-day visit to Afghanistan is part of a tour with a congressional delegation, but also a highly visible effort to burnish his foreign credentials heading into the general election.

Karzai’s spokesman, Humayun Hamidzada, said Obama, accompanied by Sens. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I), arrived at the presidential palace just before noon and spent more than two hours there.

The delegation first held a formal meeting with Karzai and then attended a luncheon, where they dined on traditional Afghan foods including mutton, rice and a yogurt drink.

Hamidzada said there was no tension in the wake of Obama’s comment to CNN this month that the Karzai government had not come out of its “bunker” and gotten a handle on the country’s immense security problems.

“We did not see that as criticism, because there is a degree of realism in that statement,” the presidential spokesman said. “While we are making significant progress in rebuilding our country, fighting terrorism and managing a normal life … we are also facing the significant threat of terrorism that is imposed on us.”

Karzai has survived a number of assassination attempts, the most recent in April.

On the battlefield, the day was one of mixed results for Western troops in Afghanistan.

NATO said Sunday its forces had killed a senior Taliban leader, Mullah Sheikh, in Helmand province, a center of the insurgency. The coalition blamed Sheikh for a number of serious attacks, including the deadly use of roadside bombs against Western troops.

“We have removed yet another Taliban enemy leader who will no longer threaten the peace and security of Afghanistan,” said Capt. Mike Finney, a spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force.

But NATO also acknowledged Sunday that its forces had accidentally killed at least four civilians, and possibly three others, in eastern Afghanistan. The deaths, in Paktika province, occurred when Western troops fired mortar rounds Saturday night that missed their target by about half a mile. Most of the Western troops in that region are Americans.

“ISAF deeply regrets this accident, and an investigation as to the exact circumstances of this tragic event is now under way,” the military said in a statement.

Special correspondent Faiez reported from Kabul and staff writer King from Istanbul, Turkey.