[Al Arabiya Latest] U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai presented a united front on Wednesday in a bid to show they had patched over differences at a pivotal time in the nearly nine-year-old war.The leaders met amid pomp at the White House after awkward public exchanges which strained their alliance and complicated Obama's gamble on a 30,000 strong troop surge designed to forge a U.S. exit from the Afghan battlefield.
Obama insisted that flared tensions between the U.S. and Afghan governments were "overstated."
"There are going to be tensions in such a complicated, difficult environment and in a situation in which, on the ground, both Afghans and Americans are making enormous sacrifices," Obama said.
"With respect to perceived tensions between the U.S. government and the Afghan government ... a lot of them were simply overstated."
The leaders met in the Oval Office then held a press conference, which was both a public bonding session and an effort by Obama to convince wary Americans that the grinding progress of a war now in its ninth year was genuine.
Karzai, who was once seen as a great hope for Afghanistan and is now viewed with mistrust by many in Washington, put on an assured political performance, at odds with his tirades just weeks ago against foreign interference.
His latest appearance in the White House came nearly nine years after the September 11 attacks, which prompted the United States to launch war in Afghanistan and Pakistan border areas against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
Karzai also shrugged off recent spats.
"We are in a campaign against terrorism together, there are days that we are happy. There are days that we are not happy," said Karzai wearing his trademark green cloak and sheepskin hat in the ornate East Room of the White House.
Only weeks ago, top Obama aides said Karzai's claims that foreigners plotted fraud in Afghan elections were cause for "genuine" concern, and said before the president was in Kabul in March that Karzai must do more to fight corruption.
But on Wednesday, Obama smoothed over that row, noting "progress" by Karzai on anti-corruption efforts, improving governance and working towards credible parliamentary elections later this year.
"Of course, President Karzai and I both acknowledge that much more work needs to be done," he said.
Karzai pointedly promised to husband billions of dollars of U.S. aid.
"I can reassure you that we will work with dedication and extreme care to have those resources spent well and in place for a better future for the Afghan people."
Obama said that he was confident that slow but steady progress would allow him to meet his goal of beginning to draw down U.S. troop numbers by July 2011, and was also "encouraged" by Pakistan's actions against extremists.
An extraordinary moment
In one extraordinary moment, Karzai and Obama stood face to face, a few feet apart, as the Afghan leader described his encounter with a wounded U.S. warrior at a military hospital on Tuesday.
"It was a very difficult moment for me, Mr. President ... a very, very young man, who had lost two arms and legs. It was heart-rending."
In another overt show of respect for U.S. "sacrifices," Karzai was Thursday due to visit Arlington Cemetery where many U.S. Afghan war dead are buried.
Obama also provided an emotionally charged moment, offering Karzai, who has complained repeatedly at Afghan civilian casualties, a glimpse of the burden of being commander-in-chief.
"Let me be very clear about what I told President Karzai. When there is a civilian casualty, that is not just a political problem for me.
"I am ultimately accountable ... that is something that I have to carry with me.... I don't want civilians killed," he said.
Many observers believe that the Afghan war and the troop surge counter-insurgency strategy unveiled last year will go a long way to deciding the fate of Obama's presidency.
Addressing Americans directly, Obama said he was "more convinced than ever that we have found a difficult, but appropriate, strategy for pursuing those goals."
But despite the show of unity between the leaders, nagging questions remain over whether Karzai is willing or able to follow through on his commitments.
It is also uncertain that after years of heavy fighting, that U.S. and allied troops will be able to prevent militants reinfiltrating captured territory, or if Afghan security forces and institutions will prove able to lock in gains.
Obama also voiced support for Karzai's efforts to woo wavering Taliban members back into Afghan society, but only if they renounced Al-Qaeda and violence.