Obama Talks Afghan Strategy With Karzai

President Obama spent an hour on the phone with Hamid Karzi this morning to discuss the new US policy for Afghanistan, a spokesman for the presidential palace reports. A close confidant of Karzai's who was with the Afghan president following the call said Karzai was happy with the videoconference conversation in advance of the president's big speech tonight at West Point.

Karzai's office said the two leaders discussed in detail the security, political, military, and economic aspects of the strategy, which is expected to include between 30,000 and 35,000 more American troops stationed in Afghanistan. The call was one of several Obama was making to world leaders, including Asif Ali Zardari, the president of Pakistan. (More Afghanistan war stories.)