Obama, Ghani discuss Afghan progress

US President Barack Obama on Thursday spoke with President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan by video conference, along with Chief Executive Officer Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, the White House announced.
Obama “encouraged accelerated Afghan progress toward forming an inclusive national unity government and expressed his expectation that their visit to Washington later this month (March) will demonstrate our mutual commitment to a strengthened US-Afghan strategic partnership,” the announcement said.
The leaders discussed the efforts of the Afghan National Security Forces to improve security in Afghanistan and the importance of countering extremist threats from groups such as Al-Qaeda, it said.
Obama commended Ghani and Abdullah on their leadership in promoting a peace process to end the conflict in Afghanistan and their initiative to improve Afghanistan-Pakistan relations, it said.