Obama Arrives in Afghanistan
Posted on: Saturday, 19 July 2008, 09:00 CDT
Presumptive Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan Saturday, beginning a trip to assess the U.S. war effort there.
Sen. Obama, D-Ill., touched down in Kabul at noon Saturday local time, his campaign told reporters. They said he hoped to meet with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai as well as get briefings from U.S. military leaders, The New York Times reported. Obama was scheduled to fly on to Iraq at some point during the weekend.
The details of Obama's trip have been kept largely secret because of security concerns. A pool report released by his campaign said he left Andrews Air Force base near Washington on Thursday. No reporters accompanied him to Afghanistan, the Times said.
In addition to stops in Afghanistan and Iraq, Obama was also set to visit European capitals during the tour, which is intended to counter criticism he lacks foreign policy expertise. In a speech this week, Obama proposed sending about 10,000 more troops to Afghanistan to counter tough resistance from Taliban militants.
Source: United Press International
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds