KABUL, March 28, (Agencies): US President Barack Obama paid a surprise visit to Afghanistan Sunday, his first as commander-in-chief, to assess his surge of 30,000 troops designed to end the bloody eight-year-old war on the Taleban.
The trip, shrouded in secrecy until his arrival amid security concerns, opened with talks with President Hamid Karzai at his Kabul palace, which Obama used to press for a stepped-up fight against corruption and the drugs trade.
“The American people are encouraged by the progress that has been made,” Obama told Karzai after the one-on-one meeting, which included an invitation for the Afghan leader to visit Washington on May 12.
But Obama also urged Karzai, with whom he has had a testy relationship, to “continue to make progress” on the civilian front, including on good governance, the fight against corruption and the rule of law.
The US leader made the dramatic through-the-night flight to Afghanistan to thank American troops for their “incredible efforts” and their “tremendous sacrifices,” and pledge that they would “reverse the Taleban’s momentum.”
Obama told cheering troops, gathered in the Bagram air base, that he was confident they would get the job done to stop the Taleban from regaining power and halt the threat of al-Qaeda militants.
“Al-Qaeda and their extremist allies are a threat to the people of Afghanistan and a threat to the people of America, but they’re also a threat to people all around the world,” Obama said.
“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.”
Obama and Karzai met for about 25 minutes and held “very productive” and “businesslike” talks, a senior administration official said.
Karzai’s spokesman Waheed Omar told Tolo TV: “The biggest goal for the trip was the reiteration of the long-term commmitment of the US to Afghanistan, a strong Afghanistan, and a stable Afghanistan.”
He added Obama also told Karzai that “the US will be standing by the people of Afghanistan and will not leave the Afghan people.”
Obama landed in Afghanistan amid a spike in deaths of foreign troops in the escalating war, and as the first big offensive of his new strategy unfolds in Helmand province, with Taleban strongholds in Kandahar among future targets.
His secret journey began when he left his Camp David retreat outside Washington and boarded Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base for a nonstop flight to the Bagram military base outside Kabul.
After touching down after dusk, Obama flew by helicopter to the palace with key aides.
Meanwhile, the number of US troops killed in Afghanistan has roughly doubled in the first three months of 2010 compared to the same period last year as Washington has added tens of thousands of additional soldiers to reverse the Taleban’s momentum.
Those deaths have been accompanied by a dramatic spike in the number of wounded, with injuries more than tripling in the first two months of the year and trending in the same direction based on the latest available data for March.
US officials have warned that casualties are likely to rise even further as the Pentagon completes its deployment of 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan and sets its sights on the Taleban’s home base of Kandahar province, where a major operation is expected in the coming months.
“We must steel ourselves, no matter how successful we are on any given day, for harder days yet to come,” Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a briefing last month.
In total, 57 US troops were killed here during the first two months of 2010 compared with 28 in January and February of last year, an increase of more than 100 percent, according to Pentagon figures compiled by The Associated Press. At least 20 American service members have been killed so far in March, an average of about 0.8 per day, compared to 13, or 0.4 per day, a year ago.
Britain, which has the second largest contingent, has lost at least 33 troops since Jan 1, compared with 15 for the same period last year.
The steady rise in combat deaths has generated less public reaction in the United States than the spike in casualties last summer and fall, which undermined public support in the US for the 8-year-old American-led mission here. Fighting traditionally tapers off in Afghanistan during winter months, only to peak in the summer.