British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett arrived in the Afghan capital Kabul Tuesday, shortly after US Vice-President Dick Cheney escaped injury in a suicide bomb attack outside a military base.
Beckett is meeting key figures in the Afghan government, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Nato in her first visit to the country, the Foreign Office in London said in a statement. "She will be discussing the challenges and opportunities facing the country this year, after five years of real progress," it added. Cheney was in the Bagram Air Base, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) from the capital Kabul, when a Taliban bomber blew himself up Tuesday, killing at least 14 people.
Hours later he held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in the capital Kabul. Although the Bagram attack was the deadliest for months, Cheney said it was "never an option" to drop plans to meet Karzai. Beckett flew to Afghanistan from Pakistan, after a meeting with Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai, governor of North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan.
Aurakzai caused further controversy earlier this month when he warned the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan was turning into a "liberation war", and renewed a call for Kabul to open dialogue with the insurgents.
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