Karzai, White House Mend Fences; Visit On

The Obama administration and Hamid Karzai have buried the hatchet, and the Afghan president will visit Washington next month as scheduled, reports the Washington Post. The White House had threatened to call off the visit because of Karzai's recent shenanigans—including a vow to join the Taliban if Afghanistan's Western allies didn't back off—but relations are now "in good shape," according to special envoy Richard Holbrooke.

"There was a period where the waters got roiled a little bit," Holbrooke acknowledged. But he said his 2-hour sit-down with Karzai last week in Kabul, their fifth meeting this year, was "the longest, most sustained and most focused" they've had.