Afghan leader thanks U.S. troops as Obama expected to slow pullout

By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Afghan President Ashraf Ghani praised U.S. troops who have fought and died during more than 13 years of war in his country as he kicked off a visit to Washington on Monday to drive home the case for slowing the withdrawal of America forces. "This is a different relationship than we had under President Karzai. It's clearly more cooperative and better," said Jeffrey Eggers, a senior White House official.