Afghan president meets Italian PM on ties

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday met with visiting Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta in Arg, or the Afghanistan's Presidential Palace, to discuss bilateral ties and issues of common concerns. "The two leaders discussed the ways to enhance the economic and commercial ties between the two counties," said a statement issued by Arg here. The Italian prime minister invited Karzai to visit Italy at an early time. The Afghan leader thanked Italy for its assistance to Afghanistan particularly over the past one decade. The two leaders also discussed the presence of Italian troops after 2014 when majority of the foreign forces leave the central Asian state. Italy has nearly 3,000 troops within the framework of NATO-led International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF), with most of them serving in western Afghan provinces.