Obama meets Karzai during surprise visit to Afghanistan

PRESIDENT Barack Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan yesterday for a firsthand look at the eight-year-old war he inherited and dramatically escalated.

After an overnight flight from Washington, the president landed in Afghanistan for a stay of just a few hours, all in darkness.

He flew by helicopter from Bagram Air Field to the capital, where he was greeted at the presidential palace by Afghan leader Hamid Karzai, who was given just an hour’s notice of Obama’s arrival.

Obama was expected to use the visit to tell Karzai that he must crack down on corruption and cut the flow of money from poppy production and drug trafficking that is sustaining the insurgency.

The US also wants Karzai to halt cronyism and rewards for warlords and to create an effective, credible judicial system.

“This is something that simply has to be done,” said Obama’s national security adviser, Jim Jones. “Both presidents have to be on the same wavelength.”

The White House insisted that Karzai’s cabinet participate in most of the meetings, with Obama making the point that Karzai must work with his ministers.

This trip, its secrecy forced by security concerns, was an extraordinary capstone to a momentous week in Obama’s presidency.

He achieved the most ambitious domestic policy initiative in decades with a historic healthcare overhaul and scored first major foreign policy achievement with a significant new arms control treaty with Russia.

In December, Obama ordered 30,000 additional forces into the fight against an entrenched Taliban insurgency that seeks to retake the control of Afghanistan that the militant group lost when the US invaded in 2001.

Those new US troops are still arriving and most are expected to be in place by summer, for a full force of 100,000 US troops. There were about 34,000 when Obama took office.

The trip came just two days after a threatening new audio message from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, believed to be hiding along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The White House made no advance announcement of the visit. Obama’s talks with Karzai come as Washington’s relationship with the Afghan leader has soured. Particularly since last year’s flawed presidential elections, concerns about corruption and ineffectiveness in Karzai’s central government have mounted.