Obama Meets Afghan Prez

World-touring Barack Obama sat down with Hamid Karzai today, joining the Afghan president for lunch at his Kabul palace. Although Obama criticized the leader's government as recently as last week, he expected to steer clear of arguments in today's meeting, Reuters reports. "I'm more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking," he said before his US departure.

Obama has been traveling with a heavily guarded delegation. The group joined US soldiers for breakfast and discussed the troops' experiences in a region experiencing a sharp rise in violence. Obama has called for more troops to head to Afghanistan to balance what he characterizes as the Bush administration's "single-minded" focus on Iraq. (More Barack Obama stories.)