Obama Signs treaty in Kabul, Turning Page in Afghan War
May 2, 2012 5:05 pm
By MARK LANDLER / The ny TimesKABUL, Islamic State of Afghanistan -- President Obama, talking to Associate in Nursing yank tv audience on Tues night from Bagram air station, declared that he had traveled here to herald a replacement era within the relationship between the u. s. and Islamic State of Afghanistan, "a future during which war ends, and a replacement chapter begins."
Mr. Obama's address, throughout Associate in Nursing unheralded visit to sign a strategic partnership agreement with President Hamid Karzai that sets the terms for relations when the departure of yankee troops in 2014, was an opportunity for him to form Associate in Nursing election-year case that he's winding down a expensive and more and more less-traveled war.
"My fellow Americans," he said, speaking against a scene of armored military vehicles Associate in Nursingd an American flag, "we've traveled through quite a decade underneath the dark cloud of war. Yet here, within the pre-dawn darkness of Islamic State of Afghanistan, we are able to see the sunshine of recent day on the horizon."
His speech came as Associate in Nursing already troublesome relationship with adult male. Karzai has been strained by recent events, as well as the discharge of photos showing yank troopers move with the remains of religious movement insurgents Associate in Nursingd an yank sergeant United Nations agency has been charged within the killing of sixteen Afghan civilians. Mr. Obama sought-after to portray the withdrawal as Associate in Nursing pure action, although it remains off from bound that the Afghan government will hold its own against the religious movement with reduced yank support, or that what were once thought of important yank goals here will still be met.
Hours when adult male. Obama left Islamic State of Afghanistan, a minimum of 2 explosions cask Kabul on Wed morning, close to a compound employed by global organization employees and alternative foreigners, native reports aforementioned. in step with an internal minister, a minimum of seven individuals, as well as six civilians and a watcher, were killed. The religious movement has claimed responsibility.
The president's dramatic six-hour visit, ending a year to the day when Osama bin Laden was killed in an exceedingly raid in neighboring Asian nation, was laden with symbolism, historic and political. Speaking from the country wherever the 9/11 terrorist attacks were incubated, Mr. Obama urged that America had come back full circle.
"One year agone, from a base here in Islamic State of Afghanistan, our troops launched the operation that killed Osama bin Laden," the president aforementioned. "The goal I set -- to defeat Al Base, and deny it an opportunity to reconstruct -- is currently inside our reach."
Asserting that the u. s. had mostly achieved its military goals, Mr. Obama aforementioned that Afghans were able to take responsibility for his or her own security, a transition which will begin in earnest next year once yank and world organization troops step back from a combat role to coaching and scheme operations.
But Mr. Obama additionally spoke of Associate in Nursing "enduring partnership" with Islamic State of Afghanistan, invoking the agreement, that pledges yank facilitate for a decade in developing the Afghan economy and public establishments, although it makes no concrete monetary commitments, that Congress would have to be compelled to authorize annually.
The agreement, Mr. Karzai aforementioned throughout a hour linguistic communication ceremony at his presidential palace, opened "a new chapter within the relationship between the u. s. and Islamic State of Afghanistan," one marked by "mutual respect."
Mr. Obama, United Nations agency arrived when crepuscule at Bagram air station north of Kabul underneath a veil of secrecy, flew by whirlybird to the palace, passing low over the inky-black silhouette of the chain formation. Once there, he met in brief with adult male. Karzai before they emerged to sign the treaty.
"With this agreement the Afghan individuals, and therefore the world, ought to grasp that Islamic State of Afghanistan contains a friend and a partner within the u. s.," Mr. Obama aforementioned as adult male. Karzai looked on, at the side of Associate in Nursing audience of Afghan and yank officers, as well as 2 Democratic senators, Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Carl Levin of Michigan.
As a part of its effort to broker a political settlement between the Afghan government and insurgents, Mr. Obama said, "my administration has been in direct discussion with the religious movement." it had been his most candid acknowledgment of the often-shadowy talks between yank diplomats and therefore the religious movement.
If Mr. Obama was accenting yank constancy at the palace, his speech to his audience back home place bigger stress on turning the page. The u. s., he said, required to show its energies from war to reconstruction, a resilience that was on show on the location of the 2001 terrorist attacks in ny town, wherever "sunlight glistens off soaring new towers in downtown Manhattan."
The president additionally answered critics, notably his possible Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, United Nations agency aforementioned the administration erred by setting a point in time for retreating troops, since the religious movement might merely wait out the Americans.
"Our goal isn't to create a rustic in American's image, or to eradicate each indicant of the religious movement," Mr. Obama said. "These objectives would need more years, a lot of|more} greenbacks and plenty of more yank lives."
The surprise trip came as his re-election campaign go off a dialogue concerning the conduct of victimisation Bin Laden's killing to form a political argument within the battle with adult male. Romney. however Republicans mostly control their rhetorical hearth within the hours when adult male. Obama's arrival in Islamic State of Afghanistan was created public.
In a statement issued when adult male. Obama left to come back to Washington, Mr. Romney aforementioned he was "pleased" by the president trip. "It would be a tragedy for Islamic State of Afghanistan and a strategic occurrence for America if the religious movement came back to power and yet again created a sanctuary for terrorists," the statement aforementioned.
For the president, the visit showcased what his aides aforementioned was his determination to finish the war responsibly, as they conceded that the country yank troops can leave behind are going to be a mussy, violent place.
The president's read was mirrored within the remarks of another senior official, United Nations agency told reporters that the agreement can offer the u. s. "the capability to hold out the scheme operations that ar necessary for Al Base to not locate." it'll facilitate guarantee "a regional equilibrium that serves our national stake. and that is ultimately why we tend to went within there in the 1st place."
Mr. Obama devoted a lot of of his visit to the troops, visiting wounded troopers at a hospital on Bagram air station, wherever he awarded ten Purple Heart decorations, and speaking by radio to military personnel in alternative components of the country United Nations agency were concerned in composition his trip.
"The reason the Afghans have a replacement tomorrow is attributable to you," Mr. Obama aforementioned to three,200 cheering troops assembled before dawn on Wed in an exceedingly cavernous repair shed, against a scene of Associate in Nursing American flag and a number of other armored vehicles.
The temporal arrangement of the trip, administration officers aforementioned, was determined by the need of each presidents to sign the agreement before a world organization meeting in Chicago later this month. however it additionally came simply four days before 2 huge campaign rallies that function the symbolic kickoff of adult male. Obama's re-election bid, which is able to emphasize his success in ending the war in Asian nation and winding down the conflict in Islamic State of Afghanistan.
With polls showing an outsized majority of american citizens weary with the war, the president's aides have mentioned whether or not to accelerate current plans, that involve retreating twenty three,000 troops by September. In Chicago, the u. s. and world organization allies can validate a shift within the mission in 2013 from a combat role to at least one targeted on scheme and coaching of Afghan security forces.
For Mr. Obama, the visit was an opportunity to fulfill once more with adult male. Karzai, with whom the u. s. has had a typically troublesome relationship. On a stop here in March 2010, Mr. Obama delivered pointed criticism of adult male. Karzai for the rampant graft within the Afghan government. 10 months later, he created a come back trip, solely to be grounded at Bagram by whirling winds, forcing him to talk to adult male. Karzai by phone.
Though Mr. Karzai appeared elated at the ceremony, he has oftentimes expressed frustration with the yank presence, bitterly criticizing the u. s. on problems like night raids conducted by Special Operations troops and civilian casualties.
The u. s. turned over authority for those raids to Afghan forces last month, gap the door to the broader agreement. The treaty signed early Wed, negotiated by the yank ambassador to Islamic State of Afghanistan, Ryan C. Crocker, and Afghanistan's national security advisor, Rangin Dadfar Spanta, addresses a broad vary of problems, from security to social and economic development.
But it doesn't contain specific dollar commitments by the u. s., that has diode some critics to dismiss it as less a blueprint than a symbolic gesture.
To keep a wrap on adult male. Obama's travels, the White House resorted to some performance, putt out a schedule for Tues that aforementioned the president would participate in Associate in Nursing Oval Office meeting with advisers within the morning, then meet there with adult male. Biden and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta on Tues afternoon.
Instead, late on weekday, Mr. Obama slipped out of the White House and traveled to Joint Base Andrews. in the dark, Air Force One, its lights shifted and window shades drawn, unrolled from behind a repair shed. atiny low cluster of reporters, as well as one from The ny Times, were allowed to accompany the president, when they in agreement to not report on his whereabouts till his whirlybird landed in Kabul.
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