Afghanistan's president to visit U.S. to commemorate Sept. 11

KABUL, Afghanistan -- President Hamid Karzai left Sunday for the United States to attend the opening of the U.N. General Assembly and ceremonies marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

He will meet President Bush to discuss the ongoing campaign against al-Qaida and Taliban holdouts and international efforts to rebuild his shattered country.

Presidential spokesman Said Fazel Akbar said Karzai would address the meeting of world leaders at the United Nations during its annual debate, visit ground zero at the World Trade Center and "express his condolences to the American people" over the terrorist attacks.

The trip to the United States comes three days after Karzai survived an assassination attempt in the southern city of Kandahar.

At least 30 were killed and more than 160 injured in the explosion, the worst violence in the capital since the Taliban fell.

Authorities said they had been bracing for possible terrorist violence ahead of Sept. 11 and in advance of the Sept. 9, 2001, assassination of Ahmed Shah Massood, the commander of the northern alliance who was killed by suicide bombers posing as cameramen.

The trip to the United States comes three days after Karzai survived an assassination attempt in the southern city of Kandahar. Karzai's U.S. bodyguards killed the gunman, an Afghan security guard and an Afghan teenager who deflected the gunman's aim.