<$BlogRSDUrl$>

Saturday, July 19, 2008

VideoPhotos Video Video Video Obama starts overseas trip in Afghanistan
Sen. Barack Obama arrived Saturday in Afghanistan on the first stop of his tour of the Middle East and Europe, aimed at boosting the U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful's foreign policy credentials, his campaign confirmed.

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama made his first visit to Afghanistan on Saturday before he embarks on his tour of the Middle East and Europe aimed at bolstering his foreign policy credentials.

The U.S. senator from Illinois left Washington on Thursday and stopped first in Kuwait to visit U.S. troops there, according to Obama campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs.
Obama plans to visit Iraq, although details of the trip have have not been made public for security reasons.
The Democratic presidential hopeful's spoke briefly to a pool reporter about his trip just before leaving Washington.
"I'm looking forward to seeing what the situation on the ground is," Obama said. "I want to, obviously, talk to the commanders and get a sense, both in Afghanistan and in Baghdad of, you know, what the most, their biggest concerns are. And I want to thank our troops for the heroic work that they've been doing."
Asked if he would have tough talk for the leaders of Afghanistan and Iraq, Obama said he was "more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking."
"I think it is very important to recognize that I'm going over there as a U.S. senator. We have one president at a time, so it's the president's job to deliver those messages," Obama said.

The fight in Afghanistan has become a more pressing issue on the political radar. Three times as many coalition soldiers and other military personnel have died in July in Afghanistan than in Iraq.
On Sunday, nine U.S. soldiers were killed in a fight with about 200 Taliban militants in eastern Afghanistan. It was the deadliest attack on U.S. troops in Afghanistan in three years.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that U.S. officials are looking for ways to send more troops to assist Wilkins (if he still there) the English LandLubber. Now I understand why things are going down the way they are. The guy is a butt hole. 'It's gonna be a bloodbath,' fallen soldier told father
Cpl. Gunnar Zwilling suspected that his days were numbered last week, while he and his band of brothers in the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team prepared for a mission near Wanat, Afghanistan.
2 French Aid Workers Kidnapped in Afghanistan
Two French humanitarian workers were kidnapped at gunpoint Friday in Afghanistan and spirited out of the house they were sleeping in.
Two Taliban leaders killed in Afghanistan
Local security forces and coalition soldiers killed two Taliban leaders and several other insurgents Thursday in western Afghanistan, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said.
Military looking at intelligence before deadly Afghan clash
A formal investigation into an attack on a U.S. Army unit by about 200 Taliban insurgents will examine whether the Army had intelligence about a possible assault and whether the troops had access to it.
Quiet Iraq streets leave soldiers yearning for Afghanistan
Spc. Grover Gebhart has spent nine months at a small post on a Sunni-Shiite fault line in western Baghdad. But the 21-year-old soldier on his first tour in Iraq feels he's missing the real war -- in Afghanistan, where his
NATO: 'High-priority' Taliban leaders killed
Local security forces and coalition soldiers in western Afghanistan killed several insurgents Thursday in what the NATO command called a "successful operation against high-priority Taliban targets."brother is fighting the Taliban.
NATO: 'High-priority' Taliban leaders killed
Local security forces and coalition soldiers in western Afghanistan killed several insurgents Thursday in what the NATO command called a "successful operation against high-priority Taliban targets."
How to Save Afghanistan
Violence has dipped in Iraq, but surges in Afghanistan. A veteran diplomat explains why more troops won't help...
Pakistan intelligence blamed for Afghan attacks
Afghan lawmakers have directly accused Pakistan's intelligence agency of involvement in a string of deadly attacks in Afghanistan, blasting their neighbor as "the largest center for breeding and exporting terrorism."

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?