The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with the President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai on Thursday amid her six-day trip to Asian countries. Antiterrorist talks were dampened by the huge blast in southern Afghanistan where at least five people died.

At least five people were killed and about 30 wounded in the largest since August blast in Kandahar, 290 miles south of Kabul. At that time Condoleezza Rice was holding talks with Afghani President Hamid Karzai.

This is the first visit of the new Secretary of State to Afghanistan. Ms Rice also met Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah."It’s very exciting to see what’s happened there -- the presidential elections, they’re getting ready for parliamentary elections," said Rice.

Karzai easily won democratic presidential elections in 2004. The Bush administration sees its relations with Afghanistan as a success in the country’s foreign policy.

The parliamentary elections in Afghanistan were scheduled for September due to “technical problems,” said Karzai. "The preparations are going on and now they told us, the commission chairman, that the elections will be held in September," said Karzai. Earlier, the elections were to be held in May.