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Reports on the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell in Afghanistan. Aims in improving foreign relations between the two countries; Plans providing assistance for the rebuilding of the Afghan economy; Concerns regarding rival warlords in the region.

WASHINGTON -- It did not take long for Mitt Romney to pounce on Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta's statement Wednesday that American troops could end their combat role in Afghanistan by mid-2013, 18 months sooner than expected. Within hours, Mr. Romney lambasted it as ''naive'' and ''misguided.'' But President Obama, far from disavowing the Pentagon chief, seems eager to debate his Republican critics about a withdrawal timetable that his advisers contend is strategically sound, and which also happens to be politically popular. The White House said that Mr. Panetta's remarks reflected the president's resolve, supported by his experience in Iraq, not to wage a ''war without end'' in Afghanistan. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- When military officers and diplomats gathered in a secure room in the Pentagon on a recent Friday to get a video briefing from the Afghan battlefield, they were startled to see a youthful British diplomat in an open-neck shirt, rather than the familiar face and camouflage fatigues of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the American commander. The diplomat's name is Mark Sedwill, the new senior civilian representative of NATO in Afghanistan, and on that day, he was acting as General McChrystal's proxy. It is a role Mr. Sedwill, 45, has taken on with increasing regularity in recent weeks, forging a tight relationship with the general that associates say carries echoes of the one in Iraq between Gen. David H. Petraeus and the American ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan C. Crocker. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- Beneath twinkling chandeliers and amid tables of pastry and crudites, the Obama administration set out Tuesday to charm President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, rounding up cabinet members and other V.I.P.'s to welcome him and his ministers at a State Department reception. The party capped a day of meetings meant to showcase the breadth and durability of the relationship between the United States and Afghanistan -- one that is more often characterized by the testy back-and-forth between this administration and the mercurial Afghan leader. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- A day after he delivered a scorching attack on the West for its conduct in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai telephoned Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday to express surprise that his comments had caused such a stir, administration officials said. Mr. Karzai, the officials said, told Mrs. Clinton that he had not meant to criticize the United States but rather Western news coverage of Afghanistan. In a speech on Thursday, Mr. Karzai accused the news media of spreading reports characterizing last year's presidential election as fraudulent ''to pressure me.'' [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- With American troops pouring into insurgent strongholds in Afghanistan and the United States succeeding in killing insurgent leaders with drone attacks in Pakistan, the Obama administration is beginning to consider whether it has gained the upper hand sufficiently to justify an effort to begin talks with the Taliban. President Obama met with his war cabinet on Friday, and the issue of reconciling with the Taliban is gaining traction, even as administration officials debate whether the time is right. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

On a seven-hour trip from Kabul to a NATO meeting in Brussels last week, the two men in Kabul most responsible for American policy in Afghanistan exchanged few words, according to administration officials, holing up in separate compartments on their military plane. The quiet flight of the two officials, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal and Karl W. Eikenberry, the United States ambassador to Afghanistan, reflects a chill between the two men that officials said took hold even before they staked out conflicting positions in the debate over how many added American troops to send to Afghanistan. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Reports on United States Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit to Kabul, Afghanistan. Mention of how Powell became the first U.S. Secretary of State to visit the country since 1976; Meeting between Powell and Hamid Karzai, the interim leader of Afghanistan; Highlights of Powell's remarks, including an assurance of long-term U.S. support for the rebuilding of Afghanistan; Description of the social and economic problems that challenge the stability of the country, including the damage caused by war.