Clinton Makes Surprise Trip to Kabul

After a surprise trip to Libya on Tuesday, Hillary Clinton continued on with her unannounced tour of the world's hot spots Wednesday, touching down in Kabul in an effort to encourage Afghan leaders to continue their reconciliation process with the Taliban.

The Washington Post reports that the secretary of State is set to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other leaders on Thursday.

Karzai has been frustrated by increasing attacks in the region by the Pakistan-based Haqqani network in spite of efforts to coax Taliban insurgents to break ties with Haqqani. 

The Associated Press with more: 

The U.S. sees a political settlement with the Taliban as key to ending the war and is pushing Karzai to lead and expand a reconciliation drive, although the Taliban has indicated no public interest in such a deal. A secret U.S. effort to spark negotiations earlier this year angered Karzai.

At the same time, the goal of reconciling fighters who renounce al-Qaida, violence and embrace Afghanistan's constitution was dealt a major blow with the assassination last month of elder statesman Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was leading Karzai's outreach. Rabbani was killed when he greeted a suicide bomber posing as a Taliban emissary bearing a reconciliation message. 

Karzai grew disheartened after Rabbani’s assassination, saying that peace was impossible unless attempts were made to contact the Taliban high command based in Pakistan. Last month, Haqqani launched an assault on the U.S. embassy and NATO headquarters in Kabul, and just last weekend, the Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack on an American base in east Afghanistan, striking before dawn with rocket-propelled grenades and a car bomb. 

America plans to evacuate most American forces by 2015, and the 33,000 troops Obama deployed to the country by the end of 2012.