US VP Cheney visits Afghanistan
KABUL (AFP) — US Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Afghanistan Thursday for talks with President Hamid Karzai to assess the fight against extremism here ahead of a summit of NATO partners in the battle.
Cheney's visit, kept under wraps for security reasons, came as the country celebrated New Year and the arrival of spring amid tight security, with the Taliban-led insurgency traditionally picking up in the warmer weather.
"The vice president will discuss the existing US-Afghan strategic partnership and how we'll continue our efforts to fight terrorism," Cheney spokeswoman Lee Anne McBride told reporters.
She said Cheney would meet Karzai "to discuss progress in a democratic Afghanistan as well as the work that lies ahead, especially in the south."
He was also likely to meet commanders of a US-led force and NATO-led alliance that together have nearly 70,000 soldiers here helping the government keep the extremist threat at bay as it tries to rebuild a war-shattered country.
Cheney last came to Afghanistan in February 2007, when a suicide bomber struck outside a US base he was visiting, killing at least 20 people.
The vice president's visit coincided with the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, which the United States invaded less than two years after toppling the Taliban from power here when they refused to hand over Osama bin Laden after 9/11.
Washington's distraction by Iraq has been blamed for enabling the Taliban to regroup in Afghanistan. The extremists' campaign has picked up in the past two years, with a wave of suicide bombings and other attacks.
The insurgent campaign was at its deadliest last year, killing more than 8,000 people, according to United Nations figures. Most of the dead were rebels but 1,500 civilians also lost their lives, the UN says.
The country is braced for another tough year and military officials have been calling for NATO partners to send more troops and equipment, especially to the south where the fight is fiercest and country forces there are under pressure.
A reinforcement of 3,600 US Marines started arriving in southern Afghanistan last week, ahead of the fighting season, and is preparing for operations in support of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
They will also assist efforts in training Afghan security forces, seen as vital to building public confidence in a campaign some here criticise as failing.
After some bickering in recent weeks about the campaign in Afghanistan, officials are hoping the NATO summit in Bucharest in early April will see extra pledges and renewed commitment to ISAF and Afghanistan.
The US ambassador in Kabul, William Wood, told reporters here this week he expected "good news" from the meeting. "I also believe some of the allies will announce additional provision of troops or other assistance," he said.
A senior Cheney aide who asked not to be named said Cheney's travels -- including stops in Iraq, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank and Turkey -- was not intended to set the stage for military action against Iran.
"That's not what these discussions are about," the aide told reporters.
