Obama in Afghanistan: Messages for Karzai and U.S. troops
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President Obama, who made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Sunday, delivered a message to the Afghan government about work that still needed to be done there and a message of thanks to the thousands of U.S. troops taking part in a war now more than 8 years old.
The Afghan government was not informed until Thursday of Obama’s planned trip to the presidential palace in Kabul and Bagram air base, according to the White House. The president arrived at Bagram aboard Air Force One at 7:25 p.m., after a nearly 13-hour flight. And Obama arrived at the presidential palace by helicopter shortly after 8 p.m.
Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai walked from the palace along a red carpet to the parade grounds in the middle of the tree-lined palace complex. They stood for their national anthems, reviewed the assembled troops and returned to the palace.
Obama was there to ‘engage’’ Karzai on the benchmarks of progress that the U.S. expects from the Afghan government, according to Marine Gen. Jim Jones, national security advisor, who briefed reporters aboard Air Force One en route. Obama was there to make Karzai ‘understand that, in his second term, there are certain things that have been not paid attention to, almost since Day One,’’ Jones said, such as ‘a merit-based system for appointment of key government officials, battling corruption, taking the fight to the narco traffickers, which ... provides a lot of the economic engine for the insurgents.’
Obama and Karzai met for about half an hour, according to a senior administration official. Obama told Karzai that he felt some progress had been made since they had last spoken in a video conference two weeks ago, the official said. In the meeting, described as ‘businesslike’’ and ‘very productive,’’ the main topics discussed included governance, merit-based appointments of Afghan officials and corruption. They also talked about recent trips that Karzai had taken to China and Pakistan and a planned trip to Washington in May.
Karzai said he wanted to ‘express the gratitude of our people for the help that America has given us for the last eight years.’ He said they had a ‘good discussion’ and thanked American taxpayers for ‘rebuilding and reestablishing the institutions in Afghanistan.’
Obama thanked his host for his hospitality. ‘The American people are encouraged by the progress that’s been made,’ Obama said.
Jones, speaking with reporters in Kabul, said of the meeting: ‘ We have to have the strategic rapport with President Karzai and his cabinet to understand how we are going to succeed this year in reversing the momentum the Taliban and the opposition forces have been able to establish since 2006.’
Later, after leaving the palace at about 10:30 p.m., Obama returned to Bagram, where an estimated crowd of about 2,000, mostly from the 82nd Airborne, the U.S. military division in charge of eastern Afjghanistan, greeted the commander in chief. Obama also met there with Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.
The Bagram audience, already boisterous before the president appeared, burst into loud applause when he entered and cheered as he climbed a riser to a podium.
‘One of the main reasons I’m here is to just say thank you for the incredible efforts of our U.S. troops and our coalition partners,’’ Obama said. ‘They make tremendous sacrifices far away from home, and I want to make sure they know how proud their commander in chief is of them.’
-- Mark Silva
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In Kabul, Obama meets with Karzai, addresses U.S. troops