WASHINGTON - Ahead of a scheduled meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 26 March, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah met with President Barack Obama in Washington D.C.

In the U.S.-Afghan meeting, according to a joint statement put out by the two countries, the leaders reviewed the achievements of the last 13 years in Afghanistan and discussed the actions each country needs to take to help ensure that the social, economic, security and human rights gains made over that period are sustained and advanced.

The leaders noted in the statement that sustained international assistance will be important to enable the Afghan national defense and security forces to address the challenges facing Afghanistan and the wider region.

Both presidents endorsed a vision of a sustained relationship rooted in shared values and agreed to work to bring together like-minded countries to discuss Afghanistan and regional integration efforts at a high-level meeting on the margins of the 2015 United Nations General Assembly.