Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - President Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Sunday, to spend Memorial day with troops still on the ground in the "last year" of America's longest war , The Guardian reported.
He landed at sprawling Bagram airbase north of Kabul under cover of darkness, for his fourth visit to the country but the first since his 2012 re-election to power, and addressed the troops there shortly after 10pm local time.
Obama did not address the thorny question of how many troops might stay on through 2015 to fight international militants along the lawless border with Pakistan and train the Afghan security forces. Instead he focused on the men and women currently serving in Afghanistan.
"You're completing the mission," he said, telling his audience he had arrived before them at a "pivotal moment" for US and international forces in Afghanistan and that they would soon bring "a responsible end" to their stay.
"We said that we were going to deny al-Qaida safe haven. Since then we have decimated al-Qaida's leadership in the tribal regions and our troops here have played a central role in supporting our counter-terrorism operations, including one that delivered justice to Osama bin Laden. Al-Qaida is on its heels in this part of the world."
The president, who reminded his audience at length about the role of the 9/11 attacks in bringing about the war in Afghanistan, also hailed what he called the "progress" made by in the country, through "Afghans reclaiming their communities, more girls returning to school [and] dramatic improvements in public health and life expectancy".
He concluded that because of US efforts, "more Afghans have hope for their future".
The president is due to speak at West Point military academy in three days, and some analysts are hopeful he will announce a number then. Generals have been pushing for at least 10,000, but many in Washington are weary of the human and financial cost of the war and want a much lower footprint.
"We are aware of the sacrifices so many have made," Obama said after a briefing at Bagram base by Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, the top American commander in Afghanistan. "We'll probably be announcing some decisions fairly shortly," the Associated Press quoted him saying.
He was not scheduled to visit outgoing president Hamid Karzai, although the palace is just a short helicopter flight from the airbase and US officials said the Afghan leader was notified of the trip.
With a second round in elections to choose Karzai's successor barely three weeks away, a visit to the presidential palace or meetings with candidates could be seen as political meddling. Former defence secretary Robert Gates described US diplomats' efforts to influence the 2009 vote that returned Karzai to power as a "clumsy and failed putsch" in his recent memoir.
The 2014 deadline to wrap up combat missions was agreed by Karzai andNato in 2010. Plans to keep on a small residual force under a new "Resolute Support" mission were complicated late last year when Karzai unexpectedly backed away from signing a long-term security pact with the US.
The deal was negotiated by the Afghan president and endorsed by a gathering that he convened of thousands of influential local leaders, but at the last minute he demanded more concessions including a commitment not to meddle in elections, and an absolute ban on entering Afghan homes.
The US refused to re-open talks on the terms Karzai has since said the decision on whether to go ahead with the current pact will be for the new president to make. Both the leading candidates to replace him have said they would sign the bilateral security agreement speedily, but the winner may not take office until the end of the summer.
By then military planners warn, some irreversible decisions about closing key bases may already have been forced upon them by circumstance, meaning a smaller mission with less impact.
The Taliban still have a heavy presence in much of the country and have vowed to keep on fighting if any foreigners stay. But in his State of the Union address in January, Obama reflected his nation's weariness with an expensive war they have been fighting since 2001, and determination to let the country's own army and police battle insurgents themselves.
"Together with our allies, we will complete our mission there by the end of this year, and America's longest war will finally be over," he said then.
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