US President George W Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai vowed on Monday to finish off the Taliban, which Karzai described as a defeated and frustrated force that attacks civilians but is not a threat to his government. Karzai, visiting the United States amid renewed concern about worsening violence in Afghanistan, said he was building up his army and police to finish off the Taliban. "Our enemy is still there, defeated but still hiding in the mountains. And our duty is to complete the job, to get them out of their hideouts in the mountains," he said after two days of meetings with Bush at the presidential retreat in the Maryland mountains. "They're not causing any threat to the government of Afghanistan. They're not causing any threat to the institutions of Afghanistan or to the build-up of the institutions of Afghanistan," Karzai added.
Reassuring Karzai of US commitment to Afghanistan, Bush said the two countries' shared Islamic militant foes were "part of an ongoing challenge that the free world faces".