Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
Voice of America is funded by the US Federal Government and content it
exclusively produces is in the public domain.

US House Speaker Pelosi Meets Afghan President Karzai
-----------------------------------------------------

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=15FCCB5:A6F02AD83191E160699120535F55BC6B9574F7DCC14957C0 Bush administration
said recently it will ask Congress for more than ten and a half
billion dollars in new spending for Afghanistan





Nancy Pelosi, left, the leader of the U.S. House of Representatives,
look on as Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaks during a meeting at
the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, 28 Jan. 2007

The speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, met
with Afghan President Hamid Karzai Sunday while on a short visit to
Afghanistan.

Earlier in the day, Pelosi and a delegation of other Democratic Party
lawmakers ate breakfast with American troops at the Bagram airbase.

The Bush administration said recently it will ask Congress for more
than ten and a half billion dollars in new spending for Afghanistan,
with most of the money designated to help build up Afghan security
forces.

Last week, the U.S. military said it is extending the tour of 3000
American troops in Afghanistan by four months to help fight a
resurgent Taleban.

Pelosi went to Afghanistan a day after she met with Pakistani
President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad.

Their talks focused on the war on terrorism and the situation in
Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, spokesmen for the NATO-led International Security
Assistance Force (I.S.A.F.) say Afghan and coalition troops fought
with suspected Taleban insurgents in three separate engagements in the
southern Uruzgan province.

One Afghan soldier and an unspecified number of militants were killed
in the operations.

Afghan and coalition troops also arrested five people Sunday in the
eastern city of Khost.

I.S.A.F. says they were arrested "in connection with a known terrorist
sub-commander and weapons transporter."

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.




.