By GottaLaff
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There is supposed to be live feed of the president soon. I'll try to post it when it comes in.
KABUL - Getting a firsthand look at the 8-year-old war he inherited and dramatically escalated, U.S. President Barack Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Sunday, telling President Hamid Karzai and his cabinet that they must do more to rein in rampant corruption.After a brief meeting with Karzai at the presidential palace in Kabul, Obama praised recent steps in the military campaign against insurgents, but said Afghans needed to see conditions on the ground get better.
President Obama invited Karzai to visit him in May. Spring and summer is the time of the year during which violence increases, mainly because of improved weather conditions.
A White House official said Obama also wanted to get an "on the ground update" about the war from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. and NATO commander, as well as Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador.
The ever increasing number of casualties isn't the kind of news Americans want to hear. However, the support for the efforts in Afghanistan has increased rather dramatically:
The latest Associated Press-GfK poll at the beginning of March found that 57 percent of those surveyed approved his handling of the war in Afghanistan compared to 49 percent two months earlier.
Things are going "in the right direction", per officials, according to MSNBC just now, despite the fact that the praise of Karzai as a "partner" was, well, tepid. But images of Obama "walking the carpet" with him shows confidence in the relationship.
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