Dick Cheney meets Afghan President Hamid Karzai

An official who briefed reporters during the trip from Oman to Afghanistan said Cheney wanted to compare notes with Karzai to make the NATO summit a success. The U.S. wants NATO members to issue a strong statement at the summit pledging a long-term commitment to support Afghanistan militarily as well as in efforts to rebuild the nation, the official said.

	Dick Cheney meets Afghan President Hamid Karzai
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The official, who discussed the meeting agenda on condition of anonymity, said Cheney and Karzai would discuss the overall situation in Afghanistan, but particularly the violence plaguing the south. The official said the vice president would urge Karzai to continue to work with Pakistan following recent elections there and to stay focused on problems of militants moving back and forth across the border separating the two countries.

The vice president also planned to discuss steps the U.S. thinks the Afghan government needs to take to extend its governance beyond Kabul, conduct successful elections next year, and curb corruption and the rising production of opium poppies used to make narcotic drugs that help fund the insurgency, the official said.

Cheney's first vice presidential trip to Afghanistan was in December 2004. In December 2005 and February 2007, he visited Afghanistan as well as neighboring Pakistan.

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