RICE LAUDS KARZAI IN BRIEF AFGHAN VISIT

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice lavishly
praised embattled Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday, arguing
that his leadership shows how far Afghanistan has come since the fall
of the Taliban 4 1/2 years ago. "I don't know anyone who is more
admired or respected by the international community" than Karzai, Rice
said.

During a 90-minute meeting, Rice told Karzai that the administration
was considering a boost in reconstruction funding, an aide to Rice
said. The additional money -- to be directed especially at troubled
areas in the south -- would be accompanied by a shift from big
nationwide projects such as roads to smaller community projects.

Rice's itinerary on her third trip here showed how far Afghanistan
still has to go. With a surge of violence touching even the capital in
recent weeks, she passed her time almost entirely behind the heavily
guarded high walls and concrete barriers of the U.S. Embassy and the
presidential compound, which are about a half-mile apart. She spent
barely four hours on the ground and met with no opposition or
parliamentary leaders.

On Rice's first trip here as secretary 15 months ago, she visited a
newly reopened museum and met with Afghan women, and her motorcade
crisscrossed a city that appeared to be slowly coming back to life
after decades of civil war. But the signs of rebirth were compromised
last month when a riot broke out after a U.S. military vehicle
accidentally plowed into a crowd.

The violence shook confidence in Karzai among many Afghans. U.S.
officials also have been surprised by the strength of the Taliban
offensive this year, which comes as U.S. forces are turning over
responsibility for southern areas to a NATO-led force.

Rice late last week abruptly decided to add stops in Afghanistan and
Pakistan to her planned trip to a foreign ministers meeting in Moscow.

Karzai in recent weeks has strongly criticized Pakistan, saying it is
not doing enough to prevent al-Qaeda and Taliban insurgents from
taking sanctuary in its border regions.

In recent months, Karzai has received international criticism for his
appointment of police officials who had been accused of human rights
abuses, his promotion of what he calls "community police" forces that
some fear could signal the return of militias, and his government's
promulgation of draft media restrictions that seek to prevent news
reporting "which deteriorates the morale of the public."

The Rice aide described the southern border of Afghanistan as a "very
dangerous area" where coalition forces are challenging fighters and
"they are challenging right back."

After meeting with Karzai, Rice told reporters that "Afghanistan has
determined enemies" who had "raped and pillaged and tried to destroy
this country."

Rice said the United States had once made the mistake of ignoring
Afghanistan -- after the withdrawal of Soviet forces in 1989 and the
subsequent fall of their client government, which gave rise to the
Taliban. She said the United States would not repeat that mistake. "We
are not going to tire, we are not going to leave," she said.

Rice and Karzai became defensive when reporters, noting that Karzai
rarely travels outside Kabul, suggested that they appeared too
optimistic about the problems Afghanistan faced. "Every month I am in
one of the Afghan provinces," Karzai said.

"I and any other member of the government can and do travel to any
part of the country," Karzai said, citing recent visits to Konar
province in the east to celebrate a new road and Kandahar in the
southeast to open a hospital. "The trouble is that we don't
communicate what we do properly to the rest of the world."

Karzai acknowledged serious problems, such as a nascent bureaucracy,
weak police forces, corruption and a booming drug trade, but said,
"All countries have problems unique to themselves."

Rice added, "His optimism or my optimism about what Afghanistan has
achieved is not a matter of trying to ignore the problems and the
challenges." She said that "in a country that five years ago was still
under the rule of the Taliban, the progress has been
extraordinary."

In Washington on Wednesday, Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry, who commands
coalition forces in Afghanistan, told the House Armed Services
Committee that there had been significant progress in the country in
recent months but that "enormous obstacles" remain. Eikenberry said
the Taliban has been emboldened by a weak central government and has
been growing in districts across southern Afghanistan. Its fighters
have been operating in formations of 40 to 50, he said, similar to
U.S. Army platoons.

"They are demonstrating better command and control," Eikenberry said.
"And they are fighting hard." He urged foreign governments not to give
up on Afghanistan. "Much work needs to be done, and the international
community must remain patient and maintain an uncompromising long-term
commitment" to Afghanistan.

The hearing was the panel's first in about a year to focus solely on
Afghanistan. U.S officials and members of Congress raised concerns
about record amounts of opium and heroin being trafficked from
Afghanistan into Russia, Asia and western countries. Officials said
the proceeds benefit the Taliban's fight against coalition forces.

Karen P. Tandy, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration,
told the committee that opium-related trade in Afghanistan has nearly
quadrupled since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, to an estimated 4,475
metric tons a year, or 92 percent of the illicit global opium supply.
Tandy said one sign of progress, however, is that DEA efforts have led
to a 700 percent increase in drug seizures in Afghanistan.