KABUL, Jan 28: Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the United States House of Representatives, here on Sunday discussed with President Hamid Karzai plans announced last week by the US administration to ask Congress for $10.6 billion for Afghanistan.

All but $2 billion of the amount would go toward security needs.

Members of a congressional delegation led by Ms Pelosi told Mr Karzai that they hoped to see more coordination and cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan, an Afghan official said.

Ms Pelosi told President Karzai that Afghanistan had bipartisan support in Congress, the official said.

The two leaders spoke about possible troop increases, the official said, adding that President Karzai stressed his desire for Afghan security forces to be strengthened.

Earlier, Ms Pelosi and the six other members of Congress in the delegation spent about an hour at the US base in Bagram, where she thanked soldiers for their service, said a US military spokesman. She also met Maj-Gen Benjamin Freakley, the top US general here.

The delegation also met US Ambassador Ronald Neumann and Gen David Richards, the outgoing commander of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces in Afghanistan.—AP