One year after the killing of Osama bin Laden, President Barack Obama flew to Kabul on Tuesday to sign the Strategic Partnership Agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and delivered a prime-time address to an American television audience from Bagram Air Base. May 1 also marked the ninth anniversary of former President George W. Bush’s aircraft carrier landing in 2003 with a “Mission Accomplished” banner as a backdrop.
At the National Journal, Michael Hirsh writes that Mr. Obama’s surprise trip to Kabul was nothing like President Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” moment.
Obama has spent most of the last three years reminding Americans that Bush left him with a titanic cleanup job, both of America’s badly misconceived wars and of a badly run economy. It is a habit that has begun to grate on many voters. But in this instance he may have a point. Obama does appear to be at least in reach of completing the task that the horrors of 9/11 set in motion so long ago. He has withdrawn from Iraq, is planning to do so in Afghanistan, while at the same time knocking off or capturing the worst culprits responsible for 9/11.
As the president himself acknowledged, the conflict may never be completely over. The new agreement with Karzai makes clear that U.S. funds and U.S. trainers and counter-terrorism forces will be deployed in Afghanistan for at least another decade to come. And many experts on the ground say the readiness of Afghan forces has been overestimated, just as the corruption of Karzai’s government and its lack of support inside the country tend to be underestimated.
But Obama’s closing peroration may still be one of his best campaign lines in 2012: “My fellow Americans, we have traveled through more than a decade under the dark cloud of war. Yet here, in the pre-dawn darkness of Afghanistan, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon.”
It’s not “Mission Accomplished,” not yet. But it’s not bad. And it may help him to get re-elected.
The president left Afghanistan soon after his speech. But in a blunt reminder of the country's fragile security situation, three explosions occurred in Kabul just hours later. Police official Mohammed Zahir said the blasts were heard near a "camp for foreigners" in the eastern part of the capital. He said gunfire also was heard.
Ministry of Interior spokesman Sidiq Sidiqi said one of the blasts was a car bomb, possibly driven by a suicide attacker.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack.
After the pact was signed, Obama addressed U.S. troops at Bagram, crediting them with blunting the Taliban, driving al-Qaida out of Afghanistan and decimating its ranks.
But he warned that the conflict wasn't yet over.
"There's going to be heartbreak and pain and difficulty ahead," he told the 3,200 service members gathered at a hangar at the base. "But there's a light on the horizon because of the sacrifices you've made."
And in a remark that drew loud applause, he noted that it was a year ago that "we were able to finally bring Osama bin Laden to justice."
"That could have only happened because each and every one of you, in your own way, were doing your jobs," he said.
A report released Tuesday by the Pentagon detailed the gains in Afghanistan. It noted that so far this year, enemy attacks are down 16%, and the report says recent allied efforts "seriously degraded the insurgency's ability to mount a major offensive" this year.
At the National Journal, Michael Hirsh writes that Mr. Obama’s surprise trip to Kabul was nothing like President Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” moment.
Obama has spent most of the last three years reminding Americans that Bush left him with a titanic cleanup job, both of America’s badly misconceived wars and of a badly run economy. It is a habit that has begun to grate on many voters. But in this instance he may have a point. Obama does appear to be at least in reach of completing the task that the horrors of 9/11 set in motion so long ago. He has withdrawn from Iraq, is planning to do so in Afghanistan, while at the same time knocking off or capturing the worst culprits responsible for 9/11.
As the president himself acknowledged, the conflict may never be completely over. The new agreement with Karzai makes clear that U.S. funds and U.S. trainers and counter-terrorism forces will be deployed in Afghanistan for at least another decade to come. And many experts on the ground say the readiness of Afghan forces has been overestimated, just as the corruption of Karzai’s government and its lack of support inside the country tend to be underestimated.
But Obama’s closing peroration may still be one of his best campaign lines in 2012: “My fellow Americans, we have traveled through more than a decade under the dark cloud of war. Yet here, in the pre-dawn darkness of Afghanistan, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon.”
It’s not “Mission Accomplished,” not yet. But it’s not bad. And it may help him to get re-elected.
The president left Afghanistan soon after his speech. But in a blunt reminder of the country's fragile security situation, three explosions occurred in Kabul just hours later. Police official Mohammed Zahir said the blasts were heard near a "camp for foreigners" in the eastern part of the capital. He said gunfire also was heard.
Ministry of Interior spokesman Sidiq Sidiqi said one of the blasts was a car bomb, possibly driven by a suicide attacker.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack.
After the pact was signed, Obama addressed U.S. troops at Bagram, crediting them with blunting the Taliban, driving al-Qaida out of Afghanistan and decimating its ranks.
But he warned that the conflict wasn't yet over.
"There's going to be heartbreak and pain and difficulty ahead," he told the 3,200 service members gathered at a hangar at the base. "But there's a light on the horizon because of the sacrifices you've made."
And in a remark that drew loud applause, he noted that it was a year ago that "we were able to finally bring Osama bin Laden to justice."
"That could have only happened because each and every one of you, in your own way, were doing your jobs," he said.
A report released Tuesday by the Pentagon detailed the gains in Afghanistan. It noted that so far this year, enemy attacks are down 16%, and the report says recent allied efforts "seriously degraded the insurgency's ability to mount a major offensive" this year.