Palin to meet Karzai, Uribe Tuesday in New York

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, seeking to bolster her foreign policy credentials, will meet leaders of U.S. allies Afghanistan and Colombia on Tuesday in New York.

A campaign aide said on Saturday that Palin will meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, in addition to former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

The meetings will take place on the fringes of the annual U.N. General Assembly in New York.

Palin, who has been governor of Alaska for two years, has little foreign policy experience. She is facing a debate on October 2 in St. Louis with the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Joe Biden, a veteran senator from Delaware who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Karzai heads an Afghan government facing a rising challenge from Taliban extremists and violence in his country that has surged this year.

Uribe has led a long battle against Colombia's leftist FARC rebels and relies on U.S. support to help keep up the fight.

Republican presidential nominee John McCain, a fourth-term Arizona senator, has broad foreign policy experience.

(Reporting by Steve Holland)