The trip was Obama's first visit to Afghanistan, where he has heightened American military efforts in recent months by adding a surge of 30,000 American troops much along the same lines of the effort exhibited in Iraq during the Bush Administration.
And the heightened effort by the America troops was one of the main reasons Obama made the trip,
"One of the main reasons I'm here is to just say thank you for the incredible efforts of our US troops and our coalition partners. They make tremendous sacrifices far away from home, and I want to make sure they know how proud their commander-in-chief is of them," Obama said.
Obama later spoke to approximately 2,000 soldiers in Bagram, thanking them for their service.
Obama also found time to speak with President Karzai for about 25-30 minutes. The administration has criticized Karzai's rule as corrupt and ineffective in the past. Karzai won reelection last August, in an election that was marred in fraud and corruption, making the administration wonder if he was capable of uniting the people of Afghanistan.
It does appear that the president is keeping his eye on Karzai, especially since his decision to deploy additional troops to the war torn country. I do hope he is keeping Karzai on a short leash because if he can't control his own administration, how in the world is Obama gonig to entrust turning the country over to him? For it is he we are entrusting in rebuilding the military, uniting the people and running the country once we leave in July 2011, and right now it is not a promising prospect.
While the issue of Karzai's leadership is a major concern for every party involved in the war, it was good to see the commander-in-chief show up and support the troops for which he put in harms way.
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