Obama makes unannounced visit to Afghanistan
Source: USA Today
President Obama has landed in Afghanistan, where he is expected to make remarks about U.S. plans to withdraw from the war that is now more than a decade old.
The visit, which was shrouded in secrecy, comes just a few weeks before G-8 and NATO summits at which the Afghanistan withdrawal will be a big topic,
It also comes a year after Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden, following a U.S. military raid on the 9/11 architect's compound in neighboring Pakistan.
Obama is scheduled to meet with Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai, and sign a new U.S.-Afghanistan security agreement.
Read more: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/05/obama-lands-in-afghanistan/1
msongs
(67,462 posts)JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)as a result.
After all, he said that with an "election coming up" ... he said that, and then he did it.
Tess49
(1,580 posts)ailsagirl
(22,899 posts)bluestateguy
(44,173 posts)And that in times like this it is important for all good Americans to support their country and their commander in chief.
goclark
(30,404 posts)truthisfreedom
(23,159 posts)spreading the news far and wide that Barack is spending taxpayer money to bring his peace-mongering campaign to the enemy. He's got them tied up in knots! We're exiting Iraq, the economy is on the upswing, jobs are up, Osama bin Laden is definitely dead, healthcare is still alive (for now), and GM is going strong.
ailsagirl
(22,899 posts)You're right-- they go ballistic everytime the President does something good. They'll go absolutely BERSERK when their opinions "hit the fan."
Alamuti Lotus
(3,093 posts)CaliforniaPeggy
(149,737 posts)ailsagirl
(22,899 posts)I don't want anything to happen to him but I applaud his courage.
Bozita
(26,955 posts)great move, Willard!
Those two should have eaten CHICKEN!
bluedigger
(17,087 posts)Well played, Mr. President, well played.
TheWraith
(24,331 posts)...to bury the two new stories about a couple thousand people protesting.
bluedigger
(17,087 posts)Diminish and trivialize it as much as you can, but those pesky idealists just won't go away, will they?
The President was under what urgency, exactly, to declare today the beginning of the continuation of War Without End as official US policy?
Probably just a coincidence...
truthisfreedom
(23,159 posts)the previous post.
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)Obama did not do this on the spur of the moment.
And Obama did not plan his trip in order to bump the OWS protest off the front page.
No one is out to 'get' the OWS folks.
bluedigger
(17,087 posts)rury
(1,021 posts)the anniversary of Osama bin Laden being taken out.
It's a ridiculous quantum leap to assume that he wanted to "step on the Occupy protests!!"
Life Long Dem
(8,582 posts)Wonder what time President Obama left.
pampango
(24,692 posts)of a war that has lasted for more than a decade."
Obama, Under Veil of Secrecy, Visits Kabul to Seal Agreement
President Obama landed here Tuesday, on a surprise visit, to sign a strategic partnership agreement with Afghanistan meant to mark the beginning of the end of a war that has lasted for more than a decade.
Mr. Obama, arriving after nightfall under a veil of secrecy at Bagram Air Base north of Kabul, flew by helicopter to the presidential palace, where he was to meet President Hamid Karzai before both leaders signed the pact. It is intended to be a road map for two nations lashed together by more than a decade of war and groping for a new relationship after the departure of American troops, scheduled for the end of 2014.
Mr. Obama was scheduled to address the American people from Afghanistan on Tuesday evening, which would be the middle of the night in Afghanistan. The address on the first anniversary of the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden in neighboring Pakistan will give Mr. Obama a new opportunity to make an election-year case that he has wound down two expensive and now unpopular wars, here and in Iraq.
Still, the visit is laden with political significance, coming as it does in the thick of an election season at home, just four days before two big campaign rallies that will serve as the symbolic kickoff of Mr. Obamas re-election bid. Mr. Obamas campaign has recently emphasized his decision to order the raid that killed Bin Laden, who masterminded the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks from an Afghan sanctuary and drew the United States into war. With Bin Laden dead, along with much of his Qaeda high command, Mr. Obama has moved with increasing dispatch to wind down American military involvement here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/02/world/asia/obama-lands-in-kabul-on-unannounced-visit.html
tanyev
(42,636 posts)alp227
(32,065 posts)cbrer
(1,831 posts)And now this. I couldv'e gotten his, and Karzai's autographs. Oh well, maybe next war!