DALLAS — Former President George W. Bush will convene a conference in Dallas Thursday that will reunite him — via satellite — with Afghan President Hamid Karzai 10 years after Bush sent U.S. troops to the country.

The event is called “”Building Afghanistan’s Future: Promoting Women’s Freedom and Advancing their Economic Opportunity.””

As U.S. and other allied troops gradually withdraw troops, Bush is now trying to focus attention on the fate of Afghani women, particularly because the Taliban continues to retain strongholds in the region.

Women were denied basic freedoms under Taliban rule, and Bush has said that much of the country’s future prosperity hinges on whether they are able to maintain recent political and economic advances.

“”It’s especially urgent right now,”” said Jim Glassman, executive director of the Bush Institute.

Bush and his wife, Laura, will make remarks Thursday, followed by Karzai, as well as other participants from the U.S. embassy in Kabul, Glassman said.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick and former national security adviser Stephen Hadley will be in Dallas, along with FOX-TV host Greta Van Susteren, who will moderate two panel discussions. Panelists feature women who have established successful businesses in Afghanistan and corporate executives from Goldman Sachs Foundation, kate spade and others.

The conference is hosted by the Bush Institute, which is the policy-making arm of the George W. Bush Presidential Center being built at SMU.