KABUL, Dec 21: The United States will formally recognize the new interim administration to be inaugurated in Kabul on Saturday as the official government of Afghanistan, a senior official said.

US special envoy to Afghanistan James Dobbins said on Friday that the US government would also turn over the Afghan embassy in Washington to the interim government headed by Hamid Karzai.

Dobbins said the US government would be represented at the swearing-in ceremony by himself; General Tommy Franks, Central Command chief who heads the Afghan military campaign; and the new charge d’affairs in Kabul, Jeanine Jackson.

He said President Bush had invited Karzai to visit the United States in the new year and had expressed Washington’s intention to work “very closely” with the new Afghan rulers.

“I want to confirm that the United States will, as of tomorrow, officially recognize the interim administration of Afghanistan,” he said.

“We will deal with them in all matters as the government of Afghanistan,” he added. “There are some funds that have been tied up, frozen in the United States as a result of non-recognition. These will progressively be unfrozen.”

Kabul would also be invited to name an ambassador to the US.

The envoy said he had met an “upbeat” Karzai earlier in the day and had handed him a message from Bush offering his congratulations and inviting him for talks in Washington.—AFP