Karzai visiting Islamabad on Thursday, to meet Zardari, Gilani

Afghan president Hamid Karzai will arrive here on Thursday for a short official visit during which he will hold talks with president Asif Ali Zardari and prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, officials said on Wednesday.
 
The Foreign Office announced the visit in a brief statement.
 
Zardari visited Afghanistan early last month for talks with Karzai and this was followed by a visit to Pakistan by Afghan foreign minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta.
 
The situation along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the war on terror, operations against the Taliban in Pakistan's tribal belt and the regional security situation are expected to figure in Karzai's talks with the top leadership in Islamabad, officials said.
 
Karzai's visit comes with the US conducting a 'massive review' of its 'Afghan policy' after recent Taliban attacks on government buildings in Kabul that killed at least 26 people.
 
US president Barack Obama has decided to send 17,000 more soldiers to fight an escalating Taliban-led insurgency in the restive nation, where government officials demanded that the new troops deploy along the porous Afghan-Pakistan border.
 
US and Afghan officials have accused Pakistan of not doing enough to flush out extremist "safe havens" used by Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters.