Clinton in Afghanistan 'to urge Taliban reconciliation'

Mrs Clinton met Salahuddin Rabbani, whose father was killed by militants, at the US embassy

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Afghanistan to encourage President Hamid Karzai to continue efforts to reconcile with the Taliban.

Mr Karzai has expressed frustration at the process after the assassinations of several key Afghan leaders.
US officials say Mrs Clinton also wants to convince Afghans that Washington is committed to a long-term relationship with their country.
The US is planning to withdraw troops and hand over security to the Afghans.
"She wants to signal US support for a secure and stable Afghanistan," a US official told journalists travelling with Mrs Clinton.
Her visit to Afghanistan was not announced until she arrived in Kabul late on Wednesday.
Brazen assaults "She wants to emphasise that the United States remains committed to Afghan reconciliation and will support President Karzai in his efforts, recognising the difficulties that process has undergone since the assassination of [Burhanuddin] Rabbani," the official added.
Burhanuddin Rabbani was a former Afghan president tasked with trying to reconcile the Taliban with Mr Karzai's US-backed government. He was killed last month by a suicide bomber posing as a Taliban envoy.
Mrs Clinton met civic leaders at the US embassy in Kabul before her scheduled meeting with President Karzai.
She assured women's rights activists, education officials and politicians that their concerns were "being heard at the highest levels of the US government".
"I am here to have a reality check," she said.
"I want to hear what people in Afghanistan are thinking about the way forward."
Mrs Clinton has been a champion of women's rights in Afghanistan but activists fear that any deal with Islamist insurgents could undo advances made.

Foreign troops are handing over responsibility for security to Afghan forces in 2014

Mrs Clinton also met Mr Rabbani's son, Salahuddin, telling him that his father "was a brave man and trying to do the right thing".
Salahuddin Rabbani replied: "We will make sure we continue his vision."
As well as assassinations, militants have carried out a number of brazen assaults on major cities and military targets in recent months.
The Haqqani network of the Taliban, based in Pakistan, has been blamed for many of the attacks.
Relations between the US and Afghanistan on the one side and Pakistan on the other have soured in recent months as Washington and Kabul urge Islamabad to take action against Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan's tribal areas.
US officials have suggested the Haqqanis are linked to Pakistan's intelligence services, a charge Pakistan denies.
After the Rabbani killing, Mr Karzai suggested that Pakistan might be better placed to negotiate with the Taliban.
The officials briefing journalists on Mrs Clinton's Afghanistan visit said she would be discussing Afghanistan's relations with Pakistan in her meetings with Mr Karzai and other officials.