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US House Speaker Pelosi meets with Karzai in Kabul

KABUL: The speaker of the U.S. House met with President Hamid Karzai in Kabul on Saturday where the two likely talked about the incoming surge of U.S. forces.

Nancy Pelosi arrived in Afghanistan on Friday to meet with Afghan officials and U.S. and NATO military leaders, said Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a U.S. military spokeswoman. Pelosi, a California Democrat also met with U.S. troops during her two-day visit.

President Barack Obama announced this last week a surge of 17,000 additional forces to bolster the record 38,000 U.S. troops already in the country. Commanders say the troops are needed to fight a resurgent Taliban that has increased attacks the last three years. Militants now control wide swaths of rural countryside.

Pelosi's visit comes about a week after a trip here by Richard Holbrooke, Obama's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Obama has promised to increase the U.S. focus on Afghanistan while drawing down troops in Iraq. Democrats for years have said that former President George W. Bush neglected the Afghan conflict in favor of the Iraq war.

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