Support NeoGAF

[Hawkian]

Address at 7:30PM EST

Surprise/relatively unannounced visit apparently.

President Obama arrived in Afghanistan Tuesday for an unannounced visit to meet with President Hamid Karzai and U.S. troops stationed there, according a pool report from journalists traveling with the president.

Mr. Obama was set to meet with Karzai at the presidential palace in Kabul and then travel to Bagram Air Field to meet with troops and make a televised address around 7:30 p.m. ET.

The visit comes on both the one-year anniversary of the death of Osama bin Laden and the day a new report from the Pentagon giving the war in Afghanistan a mixed review.

Issued twice a year to Congress, the report said overall insurgent attacks in Afghanistan fell last year for the first drop in five years and praised Afghan forces for their increased security capabalities. At the same time, the Defense Department said corruption remains widespread and violence in the southern region of Kandahar has increased.

Apparently an agreement is all but certain to be signed. Wonder what this will mean for troops on the ground?

NYTimes

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 of 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 one-year 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.

 

[Kosmo]

Just get the troops out - we are doing nothing there of importance/value at this point.

 

[TacticalFox88]

Just get the troops out - we are doing nothing there of importance/value at this point.

I think is the first time I've ever agreed wholeheartedly agreed with Kosmo. :O

 

[Hawkian]

They are combating insurgent violence but if the Afghan authority has become at least somewhat capable, we should definitely start pulling out in droves.

Better piece: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/02/world/asia/obama-lands-in-kabul-on-unannounced-visit.html

 

[Stumpokapow]

Just like when my country looked to sunset its presence in Afghanistan, I don't think it needs to be "all troops out tomorrow", but there should be a clear exit date and a clear strategy for phasing troops out. If they decide the safest way to do it is in stages over a month, or six months, or a year, that's OK. But this "We're just about to turn a corner!!! And then we'll leave, honest!!!" stuff is nonsense.

 

[Hawkian]

True. A gradual and structured phasing is necessary and essentially inevitable, and implying there is another way to handle it would be disingenuous. There doesn't seem to be any time listed for the public address tonight, that I can find..

 

[j_k_redtail]

True. A gradual and structured phasing is necessary and essentially inevitable, and implying there is another way to handle it would be disingenuous. There doesn't seem to be any time listed for the public address tonight, that I can find..

7:30p ET

 

[kehs]

Obama is such a lame duck during the election season.

 

[JCreasy]

he'd be a boss if he announces that they nailed Ayman al-Zawahiri

That would be so gangsta!

 

[Hawkian]

7:30p ET

Thanks, hope I can catch it.

 

[Tim-E]

Was the last time he made an official Address to the Nation the night OBL was killed?

 

[Ghost_Protocol]

I think is the first time I've ever agreed wholeheartedly agreed with Kosmo. :O

Was just about to say the same thing

 

[Baraka in the White House]

Just another, "We're not gonna abandon our Afghan friends but we're not gonna be there forever but we're gonna stick to the mission while we hold the Afghan government accountable to the blank check we're totally not writing them as we begin to wind down increasing pressure on al Qaeda etc.," speech most likely.

 

[el retorno]

Just another, "We're not gonna abandon our Afghan friends but we're not gonna be there forever but we're gonna stick to the mission while we hold the Afghan government accountable to the blank check we're totally not writing them as we begin to wind down increasing pressure on al Qaeda etc.," speech most likely.

The NATO meeting is this month. 20 bucks says he gives a date or at least a month of when the US will leave. Then in Chicago they can hash out the specifics.

 

[Tim-E]

Just another, "We're not gonna abandon our Afghan friends but we're not gonna be there forever but we're gonna stick to the mission while we hold the Afghan government accountable to the blank check we're totally not writing them as we begin to wind down increasing pressure on al Qaeda etc.," speech most likely.

I don't think he'd be doing an address to the nation after an unannounced visit on the anniversally of Osama Bin Laden's death during an election year to just repeat the same exact stuff they have been.

 

[Baraka in the White House]

I don't think he'd be doing an address to the nation after an unannounced visit on the anniversally of Osama Bin Laden's death during an election year to just repeat the same exact stuff they have been.

I want to believe but I am jaded. We're not gonna pull ourselves out of that shit until we orchestrate the most meticulously planned yet painfully obvious goalpost excavation and relocation the world has ever known.

 

[Tim-E]

I want to believe but I am jaded. We're not gonna pull ourselves out of that shit until we orchestrate the most meticulously planned yet painfully obvious goalpost excavation and relocation the world has ever known.

iwanttobelieve.jpg
Campaign Obama is Best Obama, so I'll stay optimistic on this issue.

 

[Bowdz]

Address at 7:30PM EST

President Obama arrived in Afghanistan Tuesday for an unannounced visit to meet with President Hamid Karzai and U.S. troops stationed there, according a pool report from journalists traveling with the president.

Apparently an agreement is all but certain to be signed. Wonder what this will mean for troops on the ground?

Karzai: Vice President Biden, we are honored by your presence.

Biden: You may dispense with the pleasantries Karzai. I'm here to put you back on schedule.

Karzai: I assure you Vice President, my army is working as fast as it can.

Biden: Perhaps I can find new ways to motivate them.

Karzai: I assure you Vice President, Afghanistan will be stable on schedule.

Biden: President Obama does not share your optimistic approval of the situation.

Karzai: But he asks the impossible! I need more money.

Biden: Then perhaps you can tell him yourself when he arrives.

Karzai: ... The President's coming here?

Biden: Yes. And he is most displeased with your apparent lack of progress.

Karzai: We shall redouble our efforts.

Biden: I hope so for your sake Karzai. President Obama is not as forgiving as I am.

 

[Hawkian]

President Barack Obama and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement that outlines cooperation between their countries after the withdrawal of U.S.-led international forces in 2014.

Wonder what sort of cooperation!