AP Photo/Charles Dharapak
President Barack Obama is greeted by Lt. Gen. Curtis "Mike" Scaparrotti, and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker as he steps off Air Force One at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan, Tuesday, May 1, 2012.
Under intense security and the cover of night, President Barack Obama slipped into Afghanistan today to sign an agreement cementing a U.S. commitment to the nation after the long and unpopular war comes to an end.
President Obama speaks from Afghanistan about the post-war deal he just signed with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Obama was to be on the ground for about seven hours in Afghanistan, where the United States has been engaged in war for more than a decade following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The trip carries major symbolic significance for a president seeking a second term and allows him to showcase what the White House considers the fruit of Obama's refocused war effort: the killing a year ago of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.
Air Force One touched down late at night local time at Bagram Air Field, the main U.S. base here.
Media traveling with Obama on the 13-hour flight had to agree to keep it secret until Obama had safely finished a helicopter flight to the nation's capital, Kabul, where Taliban insurgents still launch lethal attacks.
President Barack Obama is in Kabul to sign a 10-year security agreement with Afghanistan. NBC's Chuck Todd and Jim Miklaszewski report.
Obama is joining Afghan President Hamid Karzai to sign the agreement that will broadly govern the U.S. role in Afghanistan after the American combat mission stops at the end of 2014 -- 13 years after it began.
Obama will also give a speech designed to reach Americans in the U.S. dinnertime hour of 7:30 p.m. EDT (4 a.m. in Kabul).
His war address will come exactly one year after special forces, on his order, began the raid that led to the killing of bin Laden in Pakistan.
Ed will have full coverage of the president's surprise visit to Afghanistan, including reaction and analysis, after the president's speech tonight on The Ed Show at 8pET on MSNBC!
Also, the president's speech will be seen live on MSNBC and right here on The Ed Show blog, starting at 7:30pET.
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Bin Laden dead...General Motors is alive...Romney is toast!!!
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Bin Laden is dead because of the plans President Bush put into actions and because of the efforts of his administration. If Obama would have been president when we were attacked on 9/11.......wow, who knows where we would be. Barak Obama just happened to be the president when the military took him down. It is unbelievable the way he travels around making everyone think it was Barak Obama who took Bin Laden down. Pathetic.
Now he is making another political trip to gain points for his campaign....all the way to Afganistan. This guy has no shame.
GM would have survived either way. And if that is Obama's big accomplishment for 3.5 years of service. ......woe unto us.
The Supreme Court is poised to strike his health care law down. They are also going to uphold Arizona in their fight against Obama.
So you are bragging about GM? The Volt is a disaster. Who's bragging?
You are actually making a political point about the dealth of Bin Laden? Pathetic!
Ha Bush deserves no credit read the report. We owe friends in pakistan not anything Bush did. He shut down searching for bin laden around 06. The GOP has no foreign policy accomplishments to use in this election and I know that makes you sad but it is true. 9-11 was politicized by your side the entire GW presidency, save your hypocrisy for people too stupid to see through it. You're here to make on a politic attack out of bin laden's death are you smart enough to understand that this politicizing it.
oh and it's spelled Barack stupid not Barak
GM wouldn't have survived read the reports. They would have been liquidated. By the way the Volt is selling very well. Read the reports.
If it had been up to Romney the American auto industry would have been destroyed and Bin Laden would be alive because Mitt's persistent flip flop syndrome shows he does not have the courage order a raid like the one that took out Bin Laden. If that had failed there would have been tremendous political fall out. Mitt would never have made a move that had it failed hurt his presidency.
awesome and accurate post, cc.
Johnny: Obama and his administration would not have ignored this.
Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US was the President's Daily Brief prepared by the Central Intelligence Agency and given to U.S. President George W. Bush on August 6, 2001. The brief warned of terrorism threats from Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda 36 days before the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The President's Daily Brief (PDB) is a brief of important classified information on national security collected by various U.S. intelligence agencies given to the president and a select group of senior officials. On August 6, 2001, the Central Intelligence Agency delivered a President's Daily Brief to President Bush, who was vacationing at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Then there is this little gem when GW Bush was told about the strike.
Can robme make a promiss to hurry things up?.....I don't think so.
Another OBL moment......maybe they should stop having those dinners every year.... Obama just shows them up again......
TM no that is a good time to do it. After the dinner he was on the plane to Afghanistan.
Wonder how long it's going to for the trolls to show up complaining about how much this trip is costing them?
LOL exactly Larry
You are paying for this campaign trip. As long as you like it....have at it.
Everthing this guy does is just for him...not you. Remember that. He could care less about you. As long as he gets to ride in his big plane another 4 years and go on the big vacations. President of the US. What a failure. What a disgrace. What a sham.
Johnny you don't get much do you?
the president was there to negotiate a status of forces agreement
attacking a president for visiting the troops I'm sure your family is so proud........more anti-reality values
larry
It's not costing you a dime................we've established that, now haven't we.
Yes lets continue to complain about the cost of a diplomatic visit made by president because we've always whined about that in past like little cry babies haven't we............not where live(reality)
And by the mr.troll everyone pays taxes in some form it is impossible to live in america and not do so
Last I checked paying was a regular civic duty that you didn't constantly complain about because that was just the right thing to do. This whole Rand selfish it's all about me philosophy the right believes in is toxic. When you say you dont' think you should have to pay taxes remember you're saying you don't want to do your civic duty.
So self concern over civic responsibility, that's not what this nation is about
2024? We're going to be in that worthless excuse for a country until 2024? What the hell are you thinking? We've carried the responsibility of their "nation" long enough. No more American soldiers need be killed for Afghanistan's problems. This time table is unaceptable in my opinion and essentially reveals what we have known all along that even after the decade of "help" we have given them the afghan government has made zero efforts to do anything to go toward self sufficience.
Hamid Karzai is a very clever politician but not a maverick leader the people need, he like Romney, is still running around trying to please everyone including the tribal leaders aka the taliban. Point is this is waste and we can not trust this alleged afghan government.
President Obama committing the United States of America for another 12 more years!!!
OMG!
Our military wants to stay forever, this is the best deal he could get because of are military and John McCain.
Barry is flapping his gums on TV...............time to go out.
Cynical..........the Volt is a dud. You know that. GM...after bankruptcy and reorganization..would have bounced back...without the government stepping in. You know that.
Obama made this trip now to score political points. Nothing wrong with that I guess...but that was the reason. You know that.
How does anyone know what Mitt Romney would have done in the exact same scenerio. What would anyone have done. The intel of where this man was started long before Barak Obama was sworn in....You know that. You see, Obama blames all things bad on Bush. When something positive happens...its all because of Obama. You know that......and you know that is wrong. Osama is dead because of what the Bush and Obama administrations have done.
Are you really happy in the direction our country is heading under the "leadership" of this president? I'll bet if you had an open mind, you would see that 4 more years of this president would not be a good thing.
Why has a lot of his cabinet people.....czars.....staff....etc...QUIT on him before his first term is even up. Did you know that the number of people that have left him is something that has never happened before. Even the white house chief of staff.....puff...gone...... Why do you think that is?
Why are a lot of the organizations under his watch coming under investigation? Even Holder. Contempt? Can you believe it? If he has nothing to hide...just provide what the committee wants. Do you get that Cynical? Secret service.......GSI.......or GSA...whichever it is.
What good has this guy done? The S.C. is getting ready to shoot down his signature achievement. It has already been watered down...changed...people given waivers...its a mess. You know that.
Cynical...how do you know Romney would not be a good president? You don't. I don't. I trust he would based on what I have seen. I certainly do know that what I've seen by this president is not good.
Oh well, gotta run. Have a good one. Just remember what Jimmy Kimmel said to the president........"That was Hilarious"
Johhny the volt is selling just fine clearly you don't know that
Obama was in afghanistan to sign a status of forces agreement if you paid attention to any of the coverage yo'd know that. What did you think this talk about 2014 or 2024 were just out of no where?
We know that Mitt Romney has little to know courage. Mitt Romney does not have the courage to keep the same position on a number of fundamental issue as he has demonstrated his entire political career including this campaign. You should know that. You may deny that his claim to fame is changing positions but sadly it is. Had this raid failed the political fallout would have been tremendous that's why all of his close adviseres including the sec of def and sec of state were against making that move. Bill Clinton has come out and said were he in that position he would not have done it because the risks were so high. This took a guts, Romney has none. Jimmy Carter had a similar incident only it failed, it ruined him. So no not just anyone would have made this choice. The right feels entitled to run on national security and this time they can't so they are crying their little eyes out we get that. You should just drop it. You can't attack the president on merit or substance so you're trying unsuccessfully to attack it for being political sadly the american people know what ever has something to try and brag about something in an election year will do so. Funny that not a single prominent republican called out GW for politicizing 9-11 as you've already done today. Save the fake outrage for those too stupid to see through it.
The leadership of this president has surpaced his predeccessor on the economy, defense, diplomacy and talking to the people. John McCain could have been a fair president but the damage Blunder Woman(Palin) would have done in the two years before would quit to pursue reality television would have easily outshined any success McCain could have had.
You're last president sucked. You're last run for president sucked and you're nominee sucks I get that and you need to to deal with that. Admitting it is the first step.
The cabinet of the president has really changed except the press secreatary which is common. Bush has two as well. If we could get Tim Geithner aka the congressman for the big banks and Gw's fed chair Ben Bernanke that would be great.
The GSA has nothing to do with this president even fox news will admit that the white house can not and should not micromanage every department. Eric Holder has been found in contempt of anything and he's done nothing wrong. The people responsible for fast nad furious are in the ATF and the DEA which need to both be closed we don't them and their cowboy antics. As you don't know they do things like this all the time. The GOP will not do that even though it needs to be done because they don't care to fix things, the head of the doj can't provide information he doesn't have.
If this were the Bush administration there would be no investigations evem allowed. The evidence of misconduct in the CIA black sites that they destroyed. The memos of "enhanced interrogation" they shreded. The unconstitutional patriot act allowing them to spy on citizens in the name of security without a warrant...that will be with our government now for the rest of time, thanks George great legacy there on that. Dick Cheney shot a guy in the face, no punishment. Do you think anyone else would have got a similar situation if they were in that positiom. The Attorney general GW appointed who they had to get rid after they in fact found him guilty of misconduct. The WMD's that weren't there that Dick Cheney still refuses to even hint that he was wrong about them being there. The president launching the afghanistan war before getting authorization from congress. Libya before you foolishly try to bring that up doesn't count because it didn't become a full blown war, if Afghanistan had worked out that way there would have been no problem but it didn't. So that was illegal.
The deregulation that lead to the financial collapse
I trust on what I have seen from Romney being against and for abortion, gun control, gay marriage, the healthcare success he had in mass., calling the bill a model for the nation(which he did), the union stripping bill in ohio, the bailout of the auto industry, going into pakistan to get terrorists without pakistan's guidance, the arizona law he denies calling a model for the nation......
You name me one single issue Mitt Romney has been consist on, even the tea party knows he nothing but a well oiled weathervane.
To quote Rudy Giuliani Romney has know core. You should know that.
GM is alive Bin Laden is not
Two years of consistent job growth
Iraq war is over, the right attacked him for doing that. Which is funny because it was Bush's idea in the first place, but they said don't do we are against it. He did it our soldiers are coming home from GW's mismanaged war.
Al Qaeda is on the run, this president did that GW could not get that to happen he was too busy screwing up Iraq
Give me one achievement from Mitt Romney he still has the balls to take credit for you won't find one.
Mitt Romney=coward
Barack Obama=far too much like a moderate bush era republican but not a coward
If Romney had his way Bin Laden would be alive GM would be dead I know pains you to admit it but you need to come to terms with that........that is if you're smart enough to look Romney's past statements which at this point seems to be a lot to expect from you
Romney is coward with no core you can not deny that
Obama explained his committment very clearly combat troops coming home as he said 2014 we've been in vietnam since the 60's, japan since pearl harbor, germany since ww11 its standard procedure but since hes doing it the right makes it sound ludicress and their lemming followers act like this is something new and insane sheeesh its normal
Ya know what worries me is that I don't know that us continuing to help feeble little afghanistan is going to be smart for us to do. I am not confident this nation building excercise will work.
Staying in afghanistan for so long ensures the right will have a launching point for further mid east intervention like that war with Iran they really want to start. They really, really want a war with Iran and this is only going to make that easier for them. I am concerned that this is an overture to further action in this region which I don't we should have so much involvement in.
We do have bases all over the world, but we need to examine that whole concept. We should have a discussion as to whether that is in fact wise or not. At least some of these duty stations should be downsized or shut down
Every soldier @ the speech was ordered to be there, I wonder how many would be there if not ordered. My Bro in law was ordered to attend a Bob Hope show in Vietnam on his once a month day off.
all of them. soldiers tend to like to see the president no matter who that is they patriots and no not to show disrespect to the C-in-C no matter what they think politically.
besides they're in afghanistan what else are going to? Not like they just go and leave the base whenever they want.......which again what else are gonna do afghanistan is not exactly an entertainment capital