* Biden's first visit to Afghanistan as vice president
* Biden says U.S. ready to stay beyond 2014, if Afghans want
* Biden critical in the past of Karzai's leadership
By Patricia Zengerle
KABUL, Jan 11 (Reuters) - The United States is not in Afghanistan to "govern" but will offer support beyond a 2014 security handover if Afghans wanted, visiting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden told President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday.
In an attempt to reassure the Afghan president, who has in the past accused Washington of meddling, Biden said Afghans were capable of building up their own institutions and that the United States was not in the war-torn country to "nation-build".
The visit is the first trip to Afghanistan by Biden as vice president, who has been openly critical of Karzai in the past, questioning his credibility as a partner and accusing him of not doing enough to tackle corruption in his government.
Biden's visit also comes after the end of the bloodiest year of the nearly decade-long war in Afghanistan where violence is at its worst since U.S.-backed Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001 following the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
"It is not our intention to govern or to nation-build. This is the responsibility of the Afghan people and they are fully capable of it," Biden told a news conference alongside Karzai.
A war review by U.S. President Barack Obama in December said "notable operational gains" had been made and Taliban momentum had been "arrested" in much of the country and reversed in some areas, but any gains were fragile and reversible.
The review also said the United States was on track to begin gradually withdrawing its troops -- numbering about 97,000 out of some 150,000 foreign troops -- in July.
That drawdown is part of an ambitious NATO-backed plan for Afghans to take the lead in securing the whole country in 2014.
"NOT LEAVING"
Biden said the United States would remain in Afghanistan beyond that date if the Afghans wanted.
"The United States, if the Afghan people want it, are prepared, and we are not leaving in 2014," he said.
"Hopefully, we will have totally turned over the ability ... to the Afghan security forces to maintain the security of the country, but we are not leaving if you don't want us to leave."
Biden has long been sceptical of a large military presence in Afghanistan, favouring a more narrow counterterrorism mission of pursuing al Qaeda targets in Pakistan and along the Afghan border and Tuesday's comments may be viewed as a softening of that line.
Biden kicked off a series of tough talks with the Afghan president soon after Obama was elected, mainly over his failure to tackle rampant graft.
For his part, Karzai has accused Washington and the West of interfering in his affairs. Relations hit a low last year when Karzai accused Western governments of ballot-rigging in an August 2009 presidential poll in an effort to install a weak government.
U.S. officials travelling with Biden declined to discuss what message the vice president might deliver to Karzai, but the two men met for an hour longer than scheduled at the presidential palace.
Both later gave upbeat assessments of their meeting but Biden was whisked away before reporters had time to ask questions. (Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols and Hamid Shalizi; Writing by Jonathon Burch; Editing by Robert Birsel) (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/afghanistanpakistan) (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to newsfeedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com)
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