The last time Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, was in Washington -- a year ago -- he had to share the spotlight with his Pakistani counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari, who got the bulk of the attention from the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton even made a personal, unscheduled visit to huddle with Mr. Zardari at his hotel.

It is a far, far different visit this time around, reflecting the Obama administration's decision to abandon the publicly tough approach it tried to use to pressure Mr. Karzai to tackle corruption and drug trafficking in his government. Administration officials concluded that the strategy had backfired, making Mr. Karzai more resentful and resistant.

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