[JURIST] President Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai [Wikipedia profile] met in the White House East Room Monday to discuss US military operations in Afghanistan [meeting transcript]. The leaders were able to agree on a joint declaration [text] that US and coalition forces will continue to have "the freedom of action to conduct appropriate military operations". The measure fell short, however, of Karzai’s stated desire to have coalition forces consult the Afghan government before conducting any raid to search for members of Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and also contained no promise that Afghan prisoners in US custody would be turned over to his government. Over the weekend, amid recent reports of prisoner abuse, Karzai said he wanted all Afghan prisoners in US custody handed back to Afghan authorities [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.