Palin meets Karzai, other leaders at U.N.

NEW YORK, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was in New York for a two-day crash course in foreign affairs Tuesday, starting with a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The Republican vice presidential nominee was scheduled to meet nine world leaders on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. She spent a half hour with Karzai at the Intercontinental Hotel, followed by a stop at the Colombian U.N. Mission residence to meet President Alvaro Uribe, Newsday reported.

Two senior foreign policy advisers to Republican presidential nominee John McCain accompanied Palin on her rounds.

Palin, who had never held a passport before last year, has had little exposure to the world outside Alaska. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, the Democratic pick for vice president, is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Palin also scheduled meetings with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and four more heads of state as well as former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Bono, the U2 rocker turned international philanthropist.