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President Barack Obama has spoken in glowing terms about the new British prime minister as someone he has met and found to be a "smart, dedicated and effective leader".

He was speaking at a news conference with Afghan leader Hamid Karzai, where both men were doing their best to mend some seriously broken fences.

Mr Obama went on to say that David Cameron had raised the subject of Afghanistan himself in yesterday's phone call, telling the US president that he was committed to the joint strategy.

The president added that he was confident the new British government would recognise the importance of supporting President Karzai.

Doubtless we will hear more in a similar vein when the UK's new Foreign Secretary William Hague visits Washington on Friday and meets Hillary Clinton. They last met a couple of months ago and after that meeting Mr Hague told me he had reassured the secretary of state that he wanted a strong relationship with the European Union.

As for the less-than-special relationship between Presidents Obama and Karzai, the two men today fell over themselves to be nice. Mr Obama acknowledged tension, setbacks and disagreements between the pair but said they had been "simply overstated".

Mr Karzai said that the disagreements of the last few months reflected the depth of the relationship. Neither man, at least while I was watching, spoke the word "corruption".

This love-in may just be the latest phase in an up-and-down relationship, but the big issue that the US and the new British government both must face is that nothing they say or do appears to alter or improve the governance of Afghanistan.

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