Live-Blog: Obama & Karzai News Conference

President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai met with reporters at the White House.

As NPR's Corey Flintoff reported earlier, during meetings today the two leaders "will try to reset their relationship, seeking to restore some trust while acknowledging their sharp differences over the way forward in Afghanistan."

We updated this post as the news conference happened, so be sure to click your "refresh" button to see our latest additions.

Update at 12:30 p.m. ET: As he winds up the news conference, Obama says Karzai's visit is "a reaffirmation of the friendship between the Afghan people and the American people." And the current strategy in Afghanistan is "difficult but achievable," he says.

Update at 12:26 p.m. ET: The issue of reaching out to the Taliban comes up. Karzai says there are "thousands of the Taliban who are not ideologically oriented. ... There are thousands of them who are country boys who have been driven by intimidation or fear" to join that extremist militia. "It is these thousands of Taliban who are not against Afghanistan or the Afghan people ... or America. ... It is this group of the Taliban that we are addressing."

Update at 12:22 p.m. ET: Karzai has recently met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Afghanistan, he says, wishes to "remain friendly" with both the U.S. and Iran. "Afghanistan is a partner and a friend of the United States," Karzai adds. But "Iran is our neighbor and a brother and we want to have the best of relations" with that nation.

Update at 12:17 p.m. ET: Returning to the topic of civilian casualties, Obama says that "when there is a civilian casualty, that is not just a political problem for me. I am ultimately accountable ... for somebody who is not on the battlefield who got killed. ... We do not take that lightly. I don't want civilians killed."

And he praises the efforts of U.S. troops, who he notes often put themselves at risk to keep from harming civilians.

Update at 12:15 p.m. ET: Obama says he remains confident that the U.S. will be able to begin reducing its number of troops in Afghanistan "starting in July 2011." But, he adds, "this is a long-term partnership that is not simply defined by our military presence."

Update at 12:10 p.m. ET: After being asked by an Afghan reporter about the very sensitive issue of civilian casualties in his country, Karzai says that since Gen. Stanley McChrystal took command of NATO forces in his country, "there has been considerable progress achieved in this regard." And, he says that President Obama today, "expressed fundamentally, in human terms, his concern about civilian casualties."

Update at 12:05 p.m. ET: Addressing the issue of tensions between Afghanistan and the U.S., Karzai says that "there are days that we are happy, there are days that we are not happy," but declares that the relationship is "strong and well-rooted."

"There are moments that we speak frankly to each other," he adds, "and that frankness will only add to the strength of the relationship."

NPR's Corey Flintoff summed up the recent friction this way:

"During his visit to Afghanistan in late March, President Obama reportedly pressured Karzai to keep his promises to crack down on corruption and improve governance.

"Soon after, Karzai made a series of statements that angered and alarmed U.S. and NATO officials. He accused the West of interfering in Afghan affairs and said Western governments were behind the widespread vote fraud in last year's Afghan presidential elections. He also reportedly even threatened to join the Taliban himself.

"By early April, relations between the White House and Karzai were so strained that White House spokesman Robert Gibbs suggested the Afghan president's visit might be canceled."

Update at 12:01 p.m. ET:

 

Obama is asked whether he is worried that the new prime minister of Great Britain, Conservative Party leader David Cameron, might withdraw British support for the war effort in Afghanistan:

"I find him to be a smart, dedicated, effective leader and somebody who we are going to be able to work with very effectively," Obama says of Cameron. In a conversation yesterday, "he reaffirmed, without me bringing it up, his commitment" to the effort in Afghanistan.

On recent friction between his government and Karzai's, Obama says that "obviously there are going to be tensions in such a complicated and difficult environment." But, he says, such reports have been overblown.

Update at 11:56 a.m. ET: Karzai says of his country that "we once again have a voice" around the world — something that "would not have been possible" without the sacrifices made by the U.S.

Update at 11:52 a.m. ET: At the top of his remarks, Karzai speaks of a visit he paid yesterday to wounded U.S. troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He was particularly struck, Karzai says, by "a young man — a very, very young man — who had lost two arms and legs. ... This shows the commitment the United States has to bringing security to Afghanistan."

Update at 11:49 a.m. ET: The U.S. and Karzai's government, Obama says, can "go forward with confidence because we have something our adversaries do not ... a commitment to seek a future of justice and peace and opportunity."

Update at 11:47 a.m. ET: President Obama says the U.S. supports Afghan moves to give members of the Taliban who renounce al-Qaida and terrorism a role in their nation's future.

Update at 11:46 a.m. ET: Obama lauds what he says has been progress in Afghanistan toward cutting down on corruption and improving governance. Both he and Karzai, though, know that "much more work needs to be done," Obama says.

Update at 11:44 a.m. ET. The U.S. and Afghanistan, Obama says, share a goal: To "disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaida and its extremist allies in Afghanistan and Pakistan."

Update at 11:42 a.m. ET:

President Obama begins by saying that in his meetings with Karzai, "I have reaffirmed the commitment of the United States to an Afghanistan that is stable, strong and prosperous."