WASHINGTON, May 23: US President George W. Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Monday signed an understanding for strategic partnership that includes economic development and security guarantees for Afghanistan. “I’ve signed a strategic partnership with the president. It’s a partnership that we’ve been working on for quite a while,” Mr Bush told a news briefing at the White House.

Mr Bush said his administration had a strategic vision of its relationship with Afghanistan. “It is in our interests that Afghanistan be free.” Mr Karzai said he had been trying to have a strategic partnership with the US since the Bonn conference made him president of Afghanistan almost four years ago. “And I’m glad that you signed with me today a memorandum of understanding on the long-term partnership,” he said.

This partnership, he said, would make sure that Afghanistan continued to receive reconstruction assistance, training from the US for its military and police, and would enable Afghanistan to stand on its own feet eventually. The partnership with the US, he said, would also enable Afghanistan to be a good, active member of the region, contributing to peace and stability in the region, and be a bridge between various parts of the world for trade and values.

Reuters adds : Afghan President Hamid Karzai, meeting President George W. Bush on Monday amid strains between their governments, complained about US treatment of Afghan detainees and Bush said Afghanistan poppy cultivation for heroin has to stop. The two leaders met at the White House amid new tensions caused by the ongoing US military role in Afghanistan. They went out of their way to present a picture of harmony at a news conference.