President in Afghanistan - Dec. 4

President Barack Obama made an unannounced pre-holiday visit to U.S. troops here Friday, telling them that they are “on the offense” in Afghanistan now, and making progress against the Taliban. After a 13-hour flight from Washington, Obama spent only about three hours at the sprawling base, meeting with Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces, and U.S. ambassador Karl Eikenberry, and visiting wounded soldiers at the base hospital before addressing troops gathered in a hangar.
He also talked to Afghan president Hamid Karzai by phone for 15 minutes after bad weather made it impossible for him to meet Karzai in Kabul.
“On behalf of Americans, we are here to say thank you. We are here to say thank you for everything that you do,” Obama, dressed in a brown leather bomber jacket and dark slacks, told the troops, many of them from the 101st Airborne Division.
Introducing the president, Petraeus joked that Obama had recently been injured playing basketball and that the opposing player who elbowed him in the lip must have forgotten who he was playing against. A couple of members of the military then presented Obama with a pair of T-shirts.
“No one will mess with you if you wear this, Mr. President," Petraeus said of the second shirt, which was emblazoned with the insignia of the 101st Airborne.
The surprise visit came almost a year to the day that Obama announced a troop surge in Afghanistan in a speech at West Point.
"All of those troops are now in place, and thanks to your service, we are making important progress," he said in his remarks. "You are protecting your country. You are achieving your objective. You will succeed in your mission."
Obama pledged that Afghanistan would never again be a "safe haven for terrorists" who want to attack the United States and told the troops that they should be proud that because of their efforts, there are far fewer areas under Taliban now control. But he said there is a still a difficult road ahead.
“Progress comes slow,” he said. “There are going to be difficult days ahead. Progress comes at a high price.”
Obama and his national security advisers are in the middle of a review of the administration’s war strategy But the White House stressed that the main point of Obama’s trip was for him to thank the troops for their service, particularly during the holiday season.
“We started planning this over a month ago," said deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, who is traveling with Obama. "And the reason was to go during the holiday season. The president wanted to find a time in between Thanksgiving and Christmas when he could go out to spend some time with the troops, in particular, and our civilians in Afghanistan," basically to wish them happy holidays. "It's a particularly tough time of year."
Air Force One touched down at the sprawling air base at 8:35 p.m. local time after departing from Andrews Air Force base shortly before 10 p.m. Washington time. The trip was carried out in strict secrecy, with the White House last night releasing Obama’s schedule indicating Friday would be a day of routine meetings in Washington.
Obama is scheduled to return to Washington on Saturday after a refueling stop at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/45923.html#ixzz17H6ZEoDq