Obama to meet Karzai amid tensions
The White House has announced that Obama will meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Lisbon on Saturday.
The meeting is due to take place days after Karzai called on Washington and its NATO allies to reduce their military presence in the country.
Afghanistan is scheduled to be among top priorities on the agenda of the summit that will begin Friday in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon.
Karzai has recently expressed his harsh criticism of US military policies in his country, calling for a reduction of military operations by the US-led forces that continue to impose a heavy toll on Afghan civilians.
Karzai said Afghans are losing patience with the continued US presence that is worsening the war with the Taliban.
The Afghan president specifically called on the US-led forces to reduce their visibility and the intensity of their military operations in Afghanistan, in addition to discontinuing their night raids.
"The time has come to reduce military operations," the Afghan president said in an interview with The Washington Post on Sunday.
"The time has come to reduce the presence of, you know, boots in Afghanistan... to reduce the intrusiveness into the daily Afghan life," he added.
His comments drew fierce criticism from NATO and US military officials, Kazinform cites Trend News. See www.en.trend.az