President Karzai and Gen McChrystal paid a joint visit to the northern Kunduz province on Sunday to meet hundreds of local elders
President Hamid Karzai and General Stanley McChrystal met hundreds of elders in the province, where it has seen a surge in Taliban attacks over the past year.
Gen McChrystal is expected to send 2,500 US troops to the Kunduz area in coming months to beat back Taliban fighters who have seized much of the province despite the presence of thousands of German troops.
The upcoming campaign in Kunduz will be the first big ground fight for US forces outside the traditionally volatile south and east.
Germany has the third largest contingent in Afghanistan, numbering more than 4,000, but increasing violence in the northern areas it patrols has made the campaign controversial in Germany.
Quqnoos
