You're looking at these live pictures coming in from the State Department right now. There's the Afghan president and the secretary of state. We're monitoring what they're saying. We'll, of course, get you any news that emerges from these introductory comments.
Tomorrow is the big meeting over at the White House between Hamad Karzai and President Obama. Let's go over to the White House right now. Our White House correspondent, Dan Lothian who is standing by.
Dan, set the scene for us, because it was tense only a few weeks ago, but now the Obama administration is trying to make nice.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. You know, it really is a complicated process and partnership here. The White House really needs Karzai in order to make a significant progress in Afghanistan, but sometimes his words and his actions get in the way.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOTHIAN (voice-over): The White House may be touting signs of progress in Afghanistan under President Hamid Karzai, but administration officials aren't as quick to give him their full stamp of approval.
VALERIE JARRETT, SENIOR PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR: It's not a matter of confidence in him. He is an elected official, elected by the people of Afghanistan. So that is the person with whom we have to work.
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: We can't expect the United States and Afghanistan to agree on every issue. We will not.
LOTHIAN: U.S. and NATO forces are targeting the Taliban insurgency in southern Afghanistan. It's all part of President Obama's strategy to stamp out a safe haven for terrorists. Success depends on a stable and reliable government, but U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry had a hard time defending Karzai as an adequate strategic partner.
KARL EIKENBERRY, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO AFGHANISTAN: President Karzai is the elected president of Afghanistan. Afghanistan is a close friend and ally. Of course, I highly respect President Karzai in that capacity.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you're - (inaudible).
LOTHIAN: Karzai has been criticized for not doing enough to root out corruption in its own government, a charge he denies. But House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer isn't satisfied saying "The evidence to date has not been as hopeful as we would like."
And Karzai hasn't made any friends with stinging criticism of the west and the U.N., who he says want a puppet government and are responsible for fraud in last year's elections.
PRESIDENT HAMID KARZAI, PRESIDENT, AFGHANISTAN (through translator): This fraud has been done by the foreigners.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LOTHIAN: Now U.S. officials see this trip as a chance to confront some serious challenges on a number of fronts, including civilian casualties, but also they see this as a chance to strengthen the partnership even though as one U.S. official said, they'll continue to be some ups and downs - Wolf.
BLITZER: Dan Lothian at the White House for us. Thank you.
Let's bring in our senior political analyst, David Gergen who has been watch thing relationship. It's a strange relationship, but a relationship that both sides right now are trying to position as being really good when we all know it isn't.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: That's for sure, Wolf. This is a relationship that the United States officials privately have lamented for some time. The Karzai government remains one, which there's a lot of corruption and very strong connections to drugs, including his own brother, who is down in the south.
It's a very important part of that country. So the United States, in private, I think is still giving him a pretty hard time. We've had this huge shift from treating him with tough love, with being pretty tough on him in public, to now the president putting out word and "The Washington Post" telling his own team, treat him with more respect in publicly and we're almost going overboard here. I respect what they're doing here, but it's odd to see the pendulum swing this wildly in over in just a few months.
BLITZER: Yes, because it was only a few weeks ago as you pointed out. Karzai was saying the U.S. was involved in an occupation of Afghanistan, he linked to Tehran and had hugs and kisses with Ahmadinejad, almost in defiance of what the United States was doing. And U.S. officials were deeply angry, although you wouldn't necessarily know that on the public statements we're seeing and hearing right now.
GERGEN: Yes. They all treat him with love and kisses here now. But there was a time just, as you say, a little while ago where Karzai was saying he was so angry he might join the Taliban. But, the truth is neither side has a choice right now. The United States very much needs the Karzai government in order to get the job done.
The situation we're in, we've put the surge in there, we're in a better position militarily than we were a few months ago, but it's not going swiftly, because the afghans aren't prepared to come in to places like Kandahar, places we've been trying to get them in with police and army. They're not ready to fill in behind us. So we have to push that up. Remember, the president has promised he wants to bring people out middle of next year. So the time pressure is on.
BLITZER: And further complicating all of this is Karzai's brother, who is wildly seen as a drug dealer, if you will. And it's causing a lot of heartburn here in Washington.
GERGEN: No bed of roses on this one, but it's so important to the United States and we're making progress. You know, we were in a situation where the tide was moving against us, starting to move back in our direction. But we've got to get the Afghans up and ready to take more responsibility. Karzai seems to be the best instrument for doing that. That's why we've got this charm offensive under way.
BLITZER: From tough love to a charm offensive.
GERGEN: Exactly.
BLITZER: We'll watch it closely with you, David. Thank you very much.
Transcript From CNN's The Situation Room aired on May 11, 2010