Bush Invites Afghan Leader to White House
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush has, in the last day or so, extended an invitation to the new head of the interim government in Afghanistan to visit the White House. For the latest on that and what else the president has been up to, let's go to Crawford, Texas, where the president is enjoying a little bit of time off at his ranch there. That's where we find our Kelly Wallace. Hello, Kelly. Happy New Year.</s>KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Judy, and Happy New Year. Mr. Bush enjoying some downtime on his ranch. Judy, we are getting a little more information today about when that invitation to Hamid Karzai was extended. Apparently, it was extended shortly after Karzai was sworn in, back on December 22, as the new chairman of the new interim government in Afghanistan, marking the official end to years of rule by the Taliban. Karzai will be serving for the next six months. We understand the invitation extended by the U.S. envoy, who was in Kabul for the swearing-in ceremony -- that was Jim Dobbins. No date set yet, Judy, but the target, we are told, is a February visit for Mr. Karzai to meet with President Bush at the White House and also meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. The visit really a sign by the Bush administration of its commitment to helping Afghanistan rebuild following the military campaign, and how it wants to work with the interim government to keep a multiethnic government in place. Very significant visit, though, Judy, it would be the fist visit by an Afghan head of state in almost 40 years. As for President Bush, we haven't seen him this week. He's been spending a lot of time clearing brush on his ranch. The last time we saw him was on Monday, when he made a brief New Year's Eve appearance, talking with reporters, before sitting down for a cheeseburger at a local coffee shop here. The president, though, obviously, monitoring the developments in Afghanistan, getting his normal briefings -- national security briefings -- in the morning. Also focusing on other international matters: He spoke by phone with President Cardoso of Brazil about the situation in Argentina today and had sent a letter to the new Argentine president, expressing his congratulations and pledging to work more closely together. Judy, the president is planning to venture out a bit from his ranch. He and the first lady will travel to Austin tomorrow for the unveiling of the president's portrait during his time when he served as governor; that will be unveiled at the state capitol. Then on Saturday, he heads to the West Coast, with stops in California and Oregon. The White House is billing this as, basically, the focus on the two "E"s: The president is going to focus, at the start of the new year, on education and the economy. He is expected to sign the new education bill into law sometime next week and then focus on the economy, trying to pressure the Democratically controlled Senate to pass that economic stimulus package, which stalled in the Senate before Christmas. Judy, this concern about the economy, obviously, comes as polls show most Americans consider the economy and unemployment the main problem facing the country, that above terrorism and the war. So a big focus on the economy. This, though, Judy, being a political year, Democrats have their own ideas about how to improve the economy, and the Senate majority leader, Tom Daschle, in fact, will be delivering a major speech tomorrow about this very subject. Judy, back to you.</s>WOODRUFF: Kelly Wallace, reporting from Crawford. Thank you, Kelly.