The United States will launch strategic dialogue with
Afghanistan in January, US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns
said on Tuesday.
At a meeting on Afghan reconstruction in Washington, Burns said
he has accepted the invitation to visit the Afghan capital of Kabul
in January to kick off the strategic dialogue with Afghan President
Hamid Karzai.
Burns downplayed the surge of fighting and suicide bombings in
southern Afghanistan, saying it does not represent "a strategic
threat" to the Afghan government.
"While we've seen an increase in the number of attacks in the
regions and some of the provincial cities and even in Kabul and
Kandahar themselves over the past few months, we do not believe
that these attacks pose a strategic threat to the central
government," he said.
?
The clashes also were the result of NATO troops "taking the battle
to the Taliban, along with the Afghan forces" in southern and
eastern parts of the country, he added.
US President George W. Bush held talks with President Karzai in
May last year and both agreed to establish a strategic partnership
between the two countries.
The Karzai government has been a key ally of the United States
in the war against terrorism.
(Xinhua News Agency November 1, 2006)
?
