London/Kabul: British Prime Minister David Cameron hosted Afghan President Hamid Karzai at his official country retreat in southeast England yesterday to discuss bilateral ties and progress in the Afghan conflict.
Karzai, the first foreign leader to make a formal visit to Britain since last week's election, came straight from a high-profile trip to Washington designed to restore unity with US President Barack Obama.
Obama's administration has been critical of Karzai for failing to battle corruption that many say is hurting US-led efforts to fight the Taliban.
"They discussed President Karzai's very successful visit to Washington and the prospects for the peace jirga in Afghanistan at the end of May," Cameron's spokesman said after the meeting at Chequers, the prime ministerial country home.
"The president and prime minister agreed that the relationship between Afghanistan and Britain should be further strengthened."
Afghanistan was high on the agenda when new Foreign Secretary William Hague, a former Conservative leader who lost to Tony Blair in the 2001 election, met his US counterpart Hillary Clinton in Washington on Friday.
Britain is the second-largest troop contributor to Nato-led forces in Afghanistan with 9,500 troops based mainly in southern Helmand province, where scores of British soldiers have been killed since the war started in late 2001.
Last year, a record 108 British troops were killed in Afghanistan, according to independent website icasualties.org.
The British military has struggled against Taliban insurgents in Helmand and the former Labour government was criticised for failing to provide its troops with adequate equipment.
"Our immediate priorities are making sure that we get to grips with Afghanistan and tackling nuclear proliferation (in) Iran," Hague told the Times newspaper this week.
Yesterday, Afghan and coalition forces conducted sweeps across Afghanistan that left at least 30 militants dead, while insurgents in the east killed five security guards in an ambush on a convoy, officials said yesterday.
International and Afghan forces carried out an operation before dawn on Friday in the Sangin district of Helmand province that killed 10 insurgents, according to Daud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the regional governor.
Mullah Mohammed Hassan, a "prominent" Taliban commander who was involved in many insurgent attacks in northern Helmand province, was captured in the Sangin village of Pirqadam Kariz during the raid, Ahmadi said.
No security forces or troops were injured, he added. Nato said it had no information about the operation.
In southern Zabul province, a bridge was blown up on a highway linking it with neighbouring Kandahar province, according to Mohammad Jan Rasoolyar, spokesman for the provincial governor of Zabul. Traffic was being diverted around the explosion site in Shahrasafa district. No one was injured.
Violence in southern Afghanistan has been on an upswing in recent weeks, following an operation in the town of Marjah, Helmand province and as Nato and Afghan forces ramp up security efforts in neighbouring Kandahar.
