Karzai, Obama to mend ties at White House talks

---

WASHINGTON, May 12 (AFP): US President Barack Obama and his Afghan counterpart meet Wednesday to mend fences, after months spent trading barbs over alleged vote-rigging and corruption in Hamid Karzai's government.
The White House talks and press conference come after meetings with top US officials, who vowed long-standing commitment to Afghanistan that would outlast the US military presence there.
Vice President Joe Biden will also host a dinner at his residence for the visiting Afghan leader.
The red-carpet treatment comes as the US military gears up for a crucial stage of Obama's strategy to defeat the Taliban and allow the increased US military presence -- nearing 100,000 troops -- to start coming home next year.
On Tuesday, Washington and Kabul's top brass opened broad-ranging talks about boosting agriculture, increasing Afghanistan's transit trade through Pakistan, fighting drug trafficking and training the Afghan army and police.
Both sides mapped out what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called their "shared" future.
"We will not abandon the Afghan people," the chief US diplomat said as she sat next to Karzai before a U-shaped table where 40 US and Afghan ministers had gathered in the State Department's ornate Benjamin Franklin room.
"Our civilian commitment will remain long into the future."