Obama, Karzai Discuss Afghan Reconciliation

President Barack Obama has spoken to Afghan President Hamid Karzai to discuss efforts to reconcile with elements of the Taliban, including his meeting last week with Pakistani and Iranian leaders.

The White House says Obama and Karzai on Monday discussed regional support for reconciliation in Afghanistan. The conversation came in the wake of a three-day summit in Islamabad among Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The call also followed Karzai's assertion last week that the U.S., the Afghan government and the Taliban had held three-way talks aimed at moving toward a political settlement of the war.

Karzai on Saturday met with a Taliban-linked Pakistani cleric, Maulana Samiul Haq, in an effort to secure his help in bringing the militant movement's leadership into peace negotiations.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)