Hillary Clinton in Afghanistan
Afp, Kabul
US Senator Hillary Clinton was in Afghanistan yesterday for talks with President Hamid Karzai including discussions on whether more US troops should be sent to fight the Taliban insurgency, officials said.Clinton, a likely candidate for the 2008 presidential elections, was accompanied by Democratic Senator Evan Bayh and Republican Representative John McHugh, US embassy and Afghan government officials said. They were due to meet Karzai to "discuss matters of mutual interest including putting more troops in Afghanistan, the rising tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, reconstruction and women's rights," a top Afghan official said. The United States has around 20,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan to fight a growing Taliban-led militancy. Some are in an under-strength 33,000-strong NATO-led force that is looking for more soldiers and equipment, and around 8,000 are in a US-led counter-terrorism coalition. Clinton is against President George W. Bush's decision to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq. Clinton, who was last in Afghanistan in 2003, arrived from Baghdad where she said she doubted the United States or Iraqi government could pacify the country.
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