Making a surprise trip to Afghanistan to get a first-hand look at the state of the war on terror, President Obama told U.S. troops there that they are succeeding in the mission he gave them.
“Today we can be proud that there are fewer areas under Taliban control and more Afghans have a chance to build a more hopeful future,” he told troops gathered at Bagram Air Base.
Mr. Obama was scheduled to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, too, but foul weather made the helicopter flight to Kabul impossible, and technical problems prevented the two from speaking by video. Instead, a telephone call was arranged.
The trip comes almost exactly a year after Mr. Obama announced he would deploy 30,000 troops to Afghanistan with the charge that they give the country’s government the security and space it needed to try to establish order and negotiate a peace with the Taliban insurgency.
Even as he announced the deployment, Mr. Obama said the troops will begin to come home in July 2011, though he has avoided saying how quickly the drawdown would be. On Friday, he said the U.S. is still on target to shift the war effort.
“Because of the progress you’re making, we look forward to a new phase next year: the beginning of a transition to Afghan responsibility,” he said, vowing that Afghanistan will never again serve as a launching point for terrorist attacks as it did on Sept. 11, 2001.
Mr. Obama’s national security team began a review of the war effort in October, and the White House said the review will be completed later this month.
The president visited wounded troops during his visit and also spent time with Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry.
And he repeatedly referenced the holiday season in his speech to the troops, telling them he understands the empty seats at Christmas dinner tables back in the U.S. But he tied the sacrifice of U.S. troops in Afghanistan back to other major wars in U.S. history, beginning with the American Revolution and continuing up through Vietnam and Iraq.
Mr. Obama’s schedule had called for him to be at the White House on Friday, and he was supposed to deliver a statement to the press in the morning about the monthly jobs number. The economy added just 39,000 new jobs in November and the unemployment rate rose two-tenths of a percent, to reach 9.8 percent.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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