U.S. President George W. Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai will meet Sunday at Camp David for talks that are expected to focus on the battle against the Taliban insurgency and Afghanistan's reconstruction.

President George W. Bush walks with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai at Camp David on Sunday.
(Charles Dharapak/Associated Press)

Karzai, who arrived Sunday morning for the start of a two-day visit to the United States, plans to stay overnight at the presidential retreat in Maryland.

An upcoming peace conference between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and U.S. assistance to Afghanistan will be discussed, said a statement by the Afghan presidential palace.

Karzai and Bush have several other possible topics for their first meeting since last September, most notably the fate of 21 South Koreans abducted more than two weeks ago in Afghanistan.

Bush has been hinting that the Karzai government has been slow in tackling crime and government corruption and that there has been little progress made in developing the economy.

Karzai is also facing a backlash over civilian casualties, caused mostly by NATO air strikes. Often mockingly called the mayor of Kabul, Karzai is facing enemies who are creeping closer to the capital.

The Taliban in recent months have moved outside their traditional southern stronghold. Now there are reports that Taliban fighters regularly hold armed meetings in village mosques.

On Sunday, purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said the insurgents had talked to South Korean officials over the phone the last three days, but there has been no progress in freeing the hostages.

Ahmadi said the militants are trying to convince those officials to come to Taliban-controlled territory or meet Taliban negotiators in another country, which he did not specify.

The Afghan government is holding fast to its refusal to exchange prisoners with Taliban militants to free the remaining 21 hostages.

A presidential spokesman, Khaleeq Ahmad, told the Bloomberg media organization that Afghan government officials "don't want hostage-taking to become an industry in Afghanistan," but they will continue to explore "all possibilities" to free the hostages.

Five men and 18 women were captured at gunpoint from a bus in Ghazni province on July 19. The kidnappers have killed two of the men.