Hillary Clinton meets Afghan President ahead of conference

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul yesterday ahead of an international conference on the future of the war-torn country.

The politicians dined together after Mrs Clinton had flown into Kabul from Pakistan in the evening and met the new commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus.

Mrs Clinton congratulated Mr Karzai on a major trade deal struck between Afghanistan and Pakistan while the Afghan President underlined the pivotal role of the US in nailing down the pact, which had been decades in the making.

The conference, starting today, aims to chart a future of peace and development for Afghanistan and show supporters the country is acting on past pledges.

“An enormous amount of... preparation has been done by the Afghans. They have a good team working on it,” Mrs Clinton said during her flight to Kabul.

“It’s going to be very substantive and demonstrate more Afghan leadership.”

The meeting is being billed as a bid by the Afghan government to follow a process of transition from dependence on Western backers to running the country alone and responsibly after tens of thousands of US-led Nato troops go home.

Mr Karzai and UN chief Ban Ki-moon are to chair the conference, and Mr Ban urged the Afghan leader to unveil “concrete” steps to improve governance and promote national reconciliation.

Mrs Clinton said all sides had a role to play in fighting corruption.

“We’ve asked for steps to be taken. We also have to get a hard look at ourselves,” she said.

“Our presence, all of our contracting, has fed this problem. It’s an international issue. We have to do a better job in channeling our aid.”

Hailed as the biggest international gathering in the Afghan capital yet, Nato and Afghan security forces are enforcing a security clampdown to prevent Taliban attacks from marring the event.

“The conference has two major goals – one is to demonstrate Afghan political will and a concrete programme of action,” Ashraf Ghani, conference organiser and a former presidential candidate, said.

“The second is to ask for realignment of the assistance so generously provided by the international community, to achieve our common objectives of a stable, secure and democratic Afghanistan.”

Up to 70 international representatives and 40 foreign ministers, led by Mrs Clinton, will attend the meeting.

Blanket security has seen the government declare yesterday and today holidays in Kabul as thousands of security forces close major roads.

Mr Karzai is expected to lay out a timeframe for Afghan police and military to take responsibility for security, allowing foreign combat troops to withdraw by the end of 2014, Western diplomats said.

Afghan officials are to present proposals to improve governance, implement economic and social development, assert rule of law and justice, support human rights, use aid more effectively and map out peace efforts.

Afghanistan and the United States are trying to reach out to Taliban foot soldiers, offering them jobs and cash in exchange for laying down their weapons. Mr Karzai has also called for peace talks with insurgent leaders.