According to the official reports, U. S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry Monday refused to say if his reservations about working with Afghan President Hamid Karzai had been allayed.

It has been reported that during the daily press briefing at the White House, Eikenberry deflected questions on whether he thought Karzai, who arrived in Washington Monday for talks with President Barack Obama, would be able to accomplish what needs to be done to allow U. S. troops to pull out of the country.

Karzai kicked up a diplomatic fuss earlier this year by saying he would consider joining the Taliban if Washington kept pressuring his government.

Talks between Karzai and Obama would be "serious" and "far-ranging," Eikenberry said. There would be discussion on how to reintegrate the Taliban, he further said.

Eikenberry also said, "I think there's clarity right now between our two governments about what the common principle should be, as Afghanistan moves forward with reconciliation. Those principles I think are well-known, and those principles are that anybody who would come back to the fold of Afghan society and to be received back by the people and the government of Afghan, they would have to renounce the use of violence, they would have to have severed any ties with al-Qaida, and international terrorists." (With Inputs from Agencies)