Sunday, March 28th 2010.
In a surprising move, President Obama boarded Air Force One and instead of going to Camp David, he flew into Afghanistan with a small group. It’s his 1st trip to the country since becoming president.
Air Force One
On his visit, President Obama met with Afghanistan leader, President Karzai. He later met with troops Bagram Air Field, where he thanked them for the work they’re doing.
To the troops, President Obama said;
I want you to understand that there’s is no visit that I consider more important than this visit I’m making right now. Because I have no greater honor than serving as your Commander In Chief. And it is a privilege to look out and see the extraordinary efforts of American sons and daughters here in Afghanistan. So my main job here today is to say thank you, on behalf of the entire American people.
You are part of the finest military in the history of the world, and we are proud of you.
When explaining the mission of the troops, President Obama said;
Our broad mission is clear. We are gonna disrupt and dismantle, defeat and destroy Al Qaeda and it’s extremist allies. That is out mission.
In a war that is almost a decade in the making, this trip by President Obama was seen as putting pressure on the Karzai administration. The National Security adviser Jim Jones, travelling with the President said that the purpose of the meeting with Karzai was “to make him understand that in his second term, there are certain things that have been not paid attention to, almost since day one.” Jones said some of those things includes, “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.”
President also invited President Karzai to Washington on May 12th.
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