Obama’s Visit Renews Focus on Afghanistan

United States Military, via Associated Press

Senator Barack Obama had breakfast with American troops on Sunday at Camp Eggers in Kabul, Afghanistan.

By CARLOTTA GALL and JEFF ZELENY

Published: July 20, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan — Senator Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday, on a high-profile foreign trip in a country that is increasingly the focus of his clash with Senator John McCain over whether the war in Iraq has been a distraction in hunting down terrorists.

Jarod Perkioniemi/U.S. Army
Senator Barack Obama greeted troops in Kuwait before flying to Afghanistan, part of a tour that includes Iraq, Israel and Western Europe.

Rafiq Maqbool/Associated Press

Security was tight in Kabul as Mr. Obama arrived in Afghanistan, where he was to meet with local officials and military leaders.

U.S. Military, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Senator Barack Obama at Bagram air base in Afghanistan with, from left: William B. Wood, the American ambassador to Afghanistan; Senator Chuck Hagel; Sgt. Maj. Vincent Camacho; Senator Jack Reed; and Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser.

Even as Mr. Obama met privately with American troops, military leaders and Afghan officials in the eastern part of the country, Mr. McCain was questioning his judgment on foreign policy. In a radio address on Saturday, he said Mr. Obama had been wrong about the increase in troops in Iraq, a strategy Mr. McCain said should be the basis for addressing deteriorating conditions in Afghanistan as well.

As the American presidential campaign unfolded across borders and time zones, Mr. Obama received support from an unexpected corner: Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, told a German magazine that he endorsed the Obama plan to withdraw most American troops in a gradual timeline of 16 months.

Mr. Obama flew to eastern Afghanistan, near Pakistan, to get a firsthand look at the region where American troops are feeling the brunt of increased attacks from militants infiltrating the border. In selecting Afghanistan as an early stop in his first overseas trip as the presumptive Democratic nominee, he was seeking to highlight what he says is the central front in the fight against terrorism. He made no public statements on his first day here.

The visit was part of a weeklong tour that will take him to Iraq, Israel and Western Europe on a trip intended to build impressions, and counter criticism, about his ability to serve on the world stage in a time of war. It carries political risk, particularly if Mr. Obama makes a mistake — the three broadcast network news anchors will be along for the latter parts of the trip — or is seen as the preferred candidate of Europe and other parts of the world. But his advisers believe it offers an opportunity for him to be seen as a leader who can improve America’s image.

“I’m more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking,” Mr. Obama told reporters before leaving Washington for a trip cloaked in secrecy because of security concerns. “And I think it is very important to recognize that I’m going over there as a U.S. senator. We have one president at a time.”

Even as the fragile economy has emerged as the chief issue on American voters’ minds, the arguments that reverberated from the United States to Afghanistan served as a reminder that the nation is at war and that the candidates offer very different backgrounds and approaches when it comes to national security.

Mr. Obama touched down here just before noon on Saturday, his aides said, after stopping to visit, and play basketball with, American troops in Kuwait. In Afghanistan, he received a briefing from military commanders at Bagram Air Base and Afghan officials at an American base in Jalalabad. He was scheduled to meet on Sunday with President Hamid Karzai before heading to Iraq.

While the Iraq war has been one of the dominant issues in the presidential campaign, Afghanistan has moved to the forefront of the foreign policy plans of both candidates. President Bush’s agreement to a “general time horizon” for withdrawing American troops in Iraq has opened the door to new consideration of strengthening the American and NATO presence in Afghanistan, which Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain agree on in principle.

For months, Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, has criticized his rival for failing to visit Afghanistan and taking only one trip to Iraq. Even on Saturday, in a radio address, Mr. McCain renewed his criticism and sought to minimize Mr. Obama’s trip. “In a time of war,” Mr. McCain said, “the commander in chief’s job doesn’t get a learning curve.”

Mr. McCain, whose campaign spokeswoman suggested that Mr. Obama was embarking on a “campaign rally overseas,” said his rival was not going to Afghanistan and Iraq with an open mind. “Apparently,” Mr. McCain said in his radio address, “he’s confident enough that he won’t find any facts that might change his opinion or alter his strategy. Remarkable.”

But Republicans were carefully watching Mr. Obama’s trip, which is rare in its profile and scope for a presidential candidate. The White House also made clear Saturday that it was monitoring Mr. Obama’s travels; it accidentally sent e-mail to a broad list of reporters with the news report that the Iraqi prime minister supported Mr. Obama’s proposed 16-month timeline for withdrawing combat troops from Iraq.

In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine in Germany that was released on Saturday, Mr. Maliki said he was not endorsing Mr. Obama’s candidacy, but called his proposal “the right timeframe for a withdrawal.”

The magazine interview was far from helpful to the McCain campaign, and aides to Mr. McCain sought to clarify Mr. Maliki’s remarks.

“John McCain believes withdrawal must be based on conditions on the ground,” Mr. McCain’s senior foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, said in a statement. “Prime Minister Maliki has repeatedly affirmed the same view, and did so again today. Timing is not as important as whether we leave with victory and honor.”

Besides visiting Iraq, Mr. Obama is also set to meet with presidents, prime ministers and opposition leaders as he travels to Jordan, Israel and three European capitals, including Berlin, where he is to give a major speech on Thursday. On the Afghanistan and Iraq leg of the trip, he is being joined by Senators Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska, and Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island; the two men have been mentioned as possible running mates for Mr. Obama.

The three senators, all of whom have been critical of the administration’s policy in Iraq and Afghanistan, were casually dressed as they flew on Saturday to Jalalabad, one of 13 provincial bases that are commanded by American forces in the Regional Command East of the NATO force in Afghanistan. Many of those provinces, including Kunar, Nuristan, Nangarhar, Khost and Paktika, line the border with Pakistan’s turbulent tribal areas, where militant groups allied with the Taliban and Al Qaeda have gained in strength and have increased attacks by some 40 percent in recent months.

The governor of Nangarhar Province, Gul Agha Shirzai, was the only Afghan official to meet the senators, along with the United States ambassador and generals. A former mujahedeen commander with a brutal past, Mr. Shirzai is nevertheless favored by the United States as someone who can get things done, and has been praised for his tough action against poppy cultivation and official corruption in his province. He is thought to have his own aspirations in Afghan presidential elections next year.

“Barack Obama thanked the officials of Nangarhar and the people of Nangarhar for eliminating poppy cultivation, fighting corruption,” Mr. Shirzai said by telephone after the one-hour meeting, “and he promised that the United States would give more help to Afghanistan and especially to Nangarhar.”

The senators flew back to Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, at 5 p.m., the governor said. At 6 p.m. two Chinook military helicopters landed at the United States Embassy, as two more attack helicopters circled above.

Afghans in Kabul said they knew nothing of Mr. Obama’s visit; some interviewed on the streets near the embassy did not even know who he was. But some who had heard of him said they liked his message, in particular that he would pursue Al Qaeda in Pakistan.

“So far what he is talking about is what Afghans want to hear: reduce troops in Iraq, focus on Afghanistan and focus on Pakistan,” said Ashmat Ghani, an influential tribal leader whose home province of Logar, just south of the capital, is suffering from growing instability by insurgent groups.

Mr. Ghani, a critic of Mr. Karzai’s leadership who opposes his running for another presidential term next year, also welcomed Mr. Obama’s recent criticism that the Afghan president had not come out of his bunker to lead efforts in reconstruction and building security institutions.

“We would welcome such a direct voice that would close up this problem,” Mr. Ghani said.

Yet other Afghans interviewed were skeptical that a new American president would make much difference for them.

“What have we seen from the current president that we should expect anything from a future president?” said Abdul Wakil, 28, who runs a juice stall in the street near the heavily guarded embassy in central Kabul.

Carlotta Gall reported from Afghanistan, and Jeff Zeleny from Washington. Larry Rohter contributed reporting.