Kabul:
On an Afghanistan trip shrouded in secrecy, US President Barack Obama on Sunday demanded accountability from the country's leaders and better governing as he widens America's commitment to the 8-year-old war he inherited and then dramatically escalated.
Obama said the US would not quit in Afghanistan, but he made clear that he's looking for an end to direct involvement in the fight against Taliban and al-Qaida extremists. He drove that point home in meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Cabinet in the capital, and in a speech before a cheering crowd of about 2,500 troops and civilians at Bagram Air Field north of Kabul.
The number of US troops killed in Afghanistan has roughly doubled in the first three months of 2010 compared with the same period last year as Washington has added tens of thousands of additional soldiers to reverse the Taliban's momentum.
"The United States is a partner but our intent is to make sure that the Afghans have the capacity to provide for their own security, that is core to our mission," Obama said. The president, having changed from a suit coat to a leather Air Force One flight jacket, said he would never send Americans abroad to fight unless there was a compelling threat. He said a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan would put more Americans in danger. "The Afghan people will lose their chance at progress and prosperity and the world will be significantly less secure," Obama told the troops at Bagram, where he was greeted with thunderous applause.
Obama's speech to the troops, delivered in a cavernous tent known as the 'clam shell,' was the final event on his brief, only hours-long trip that occurred entirely at night. The 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 health care overhaul and scored a major foreign policy achievement with a significant new arms control treaty with Russia.
Earlier, in public remarks at the presidential palace, Obama told Karzai and his cabinet that he was pleased with progress made since his last discussion with Karzai, by secure video-conference on March 15. Obama invited him to visit Washington on May 12. He also praised recent steps in the military campaign against insurgents. But he stressed that Afghans need to see conditions on the ground get better.
"We also want to continue make progress on the civilian front," Obama said, referring to anti-corruption efforts, good governance and adherence to the rule of law. "All of these things end up resulting in an Afghanistan that is more prosperous," he said after a brief meeting with Karzai.
Karzai promised that his country would progress and eventually take over its own security, and he thanked Obama for the American intervention in his country. He told Obama he has begun to establish more credible national institutions on corruption and made clear he intends to make ministerial appointments more representatives of the multiple ethnic and geographic regions of the country, according to a US account of the meeting.
The US also wants Karzai to cut the flow of money from poppy production and drug trafficking that is sustaining the insurgency. Moreover, the US is pressing him to create an effective, credible judicial system and to halt cronyism and rewards for warlords in government hiring.
The Afghan government has tried to tackle corruption in the past with little success but Karzai pledged after fraud-marred August elections to rein in graft by making officials declare their assets and giving the country's anti-corruption watchdog more power to go after those accused of misusing their office.
The nongovernmental organisation Transparency International last year ranked Afghanistan 176th out of 180 countries in its annual poll that assesses the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. The only countries ranked lower were Haiti, Iraq, Myanmar and Somalia.
Obama landed in Afghanistan after an overnight flight from Washington. He flew by helicopter from Bagram Air Field to the capital and then back to Bagram for his second stop in a war zone as commander in chief, coming about a year after a similarly secretive trip to Iraq. The small contingent of White House aides and media allowed on the trip were sworn to secrecy.
Obama first visited Afghanistan in 2008 when, as a presidential candidate and US senator, he joined an official congressional delegation. The White House made no advance announcement of the visit, which officials said had been long desired by the president but delayed by weather and other logistical obstacles.
Obama said the US would not quit in Afghanistan, but he made clear that he's looking for an end to direct involvement in the fight against Taliban and al-Qaida extremists. He drove that point home in meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Cabinet in the capital, and in a speech before a cheering crowd of about 2,500 troops and civilians at Bagram Air Field north of Kabul.
The number of US troops killed in Afghanistan has roughly doubled in the first three months of 2010 compared with the same period last year as Washington has added tens of thousands of additional soldiers to reverse the Taliban's momentum.
"The United States is a partner but our intent is to make sure that the Afghans have the capacity to provide for their own security, that is core to our mission," Obama said. The president, having changed from a suit coat to a leather Air Force One flight jacket, said he would never send Americans abroad to fight unless there was a compelling threat. He said a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan would put more Americans in danger. "The Afghan people will lose their chance at progress and prosperity and the world will be significantly less secure," Obama told the troops at Bagram, where he was greeted with thunderous applause.
Obama's speech to the troops, delivered in a cavernous tent known as the 'clam shell,' was the final event on his brief, only hours-long trip that occurred entirely at night. The 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 health care overhaul and scored a major foreign policy achievement with a significant new arms control treaty with Russia.
Earlier, in public remarks at the presidential palace, Obama told Karzai and his cabinet that he was pleased with progress made since his last discussion with Karzai, by secure video-conference on March 15. Obama invited him to visit Washington on May 12. He also praised recent steps in the military campaign against insurgents. But he stressed that Afghans need to see conditions on the ground get better.
"We also want to continue make progress on the civilian front," Obama said, referring to anti-corruption efforts, good governance and adherence to the rule of law. "All of these things end up resulting in an Afghanistan that is more prosperous," he said after a brief meeting with Karzai.
Karzai promised that his country would progress and eventually take over its own security, and he thanked Obama for the American intervention in his country. He told Obama he has begun to establish more credible national institutions on corruption and made clear he intends to make ministerial appointments more representatives of the multiple ethnic and geographic regions of the country, according to a US account of the meeting.
The US also wants Karzai to cut the flow of money from poppy production and drug trafficking that is sustaining the insurgency. Moreover, the US is pressing him to create an effective, credible judicial system and to halt cronyism and rewards for warlords in government hiring.
The Afghan government has tried to tackle corruption in the past with little success but Karzai pledged after fraud-marred August elections to rein in graft by making officials declare their assets and giving the country's anti-corruption watchdog more power to go after those accused of misusing their office.
The nongovernmental organisation Transparency International last year ranked Afghanistan 176th out of 180 countries in its annual poll that assesses the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. The only countries ranked lower were Haiti, Iraq, Myanmar and Somalia.
Obama landed in Afghanistan after an overnight flight from Washington. He flew by helicopter from Bagram Air Field to the capital and then back to Bagram for his second stop in a war zone as commander in chief, coming about a year after a similarly secretive trip to Iraq. The small contingent of White House aides and media allowed on the trip were sworn to secrecy.
Obama first visited Afghanistan in 2008 when, as a presidential candidate and US senator, he joined an official congressional delegation. The White House made no advance announcement of the visit, which officials said had been long desired by the president but delayed by weather and other logistical obstacles.
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