US Secretary of State Clinton arrives to Afghanistan

Oct 19, 2011, 17:30 GMT

Kabul - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Afghanistan on Wednesday evening in an unannounced visit to meet with President Hamid Karzai and other civil society leaders, an embassy spokesman said.

'US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived this evening in the capital for a short visit,' said Gavin Sundwall, the spokesman for American Embassy in Kabul.

'The purpose of her visit is to meet with President Karzai and the leaders of civil society,' Sundwall said.

Clinton will meet with Karzai Thursday morning at his palace.

Another official with the US Embassy said Clinton's visit is to show the American long-term commitment for Afghanistan.

She will also make efforts to push for a political resolution, the official said, asking not to be named.

Lately, Clinton has been pushing for a political solution to the decade-old insurgency in Afghanistan and her visit comes amid increasing complex attacks in the capital in recent months, including the assassination of former Afghan president and the head of a council that was seeking peace talks with the Taliban in a suicide attack on his house last month.

Earlier in September, the US Embassy in Kabul was attacked by the Taliban insurgents which went on for 20 hours.

Nearly 140,000 foreign forces - of which two-thirds are Americans - are fighting a bloody insurgency. US and NATO officials have announced they will leave all combat operations by 2014.

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