WASHINGTON — Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is untested as a leader, yet he is expected to get a warm reception from both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill. The reason: He’s not former Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The White House said Ghani’s speech Wednesday to a joint meeting of Congress is an opportunity to mark a new chapter in U.S.-Afghanistan relations, which were strained by acrimony between President Barack Obama and Karzai.

Lawmakers have been critical about Karzai’s anti-American rhetoric.

Toward the end of his tenure, Karzai did not think the U.S. was holding Afghanistan’s interests front and center. He repeatedly railed against the thousands of civilians being killed and said the war against terrorists should not be fought in the villages of his country. U.S. officials and lawmakers did not think Karzai’s comments were appropriate given that 2,200 U.S. troops had been killed and billions of tax dollars had been spent in the conflict.

Still, lawmakers from both parties praised the White House announcement Tuesday to slow the pace of the U.S. troop withdrawal. Obama said the U.S. would leave its 9,800 troops in Afghanistan rather than downsize.

Deficiencies in the Afghan security forces, heavy casualties in the ranks of the army and police, a fragile new government and fears that Islamic State fighters could gain a foothold in Afghanistan combined to persuade Obama to slow the withdrawal.