Obama begins first tour of war zones

Senator Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan early on Saturday morning, opening his first overseas trip as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee...

Senator Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan early on Saturday morning, opening his first overseas trip as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, to meet American commanders there and later in Iraq to receive an on-the-ground assessment of military operations in the two major US war zones.

Obama touched down in Kabul about 11.45 am, according to a pool report released by his aides. In addition to attending briefings with military leaders, he hoped to meet President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan before flying to Iraq later in the weekend.

His trip was cloaked in secrecy, which advisors said was due to security concerns set forth by the Secret Service. His whereabouts have been unknown since he departed Chicago. He left Andrews Air Force Base near Washington on Thursday afternoon and landed in Afghanistan on Saturday.

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Before he left the United States, he gave a brief outline of his trip to two pool reporters traveling with him from Chicago to Washington. No reporters accompanied him to Afghanistan.

Obama said: “I think it is very important to recognise that I’m going over there as a US senator. We have one President at a time, so it’s the President’s job to deliver those messages.”

Obama’s arrival opened a week-long foreign trip that includes visits to Iraq and two other stops in West Asia as well as appearances in three European capitals. His tour of Afghanistan and Iraq are part of a Congressional delegation — similar to trips that John McCain made in the spring.

His advisors said Obama chose to begin his trip in Afghanistan because he believes that the region is among the most important foreign policy challenges facing the US.

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“Well, I’m looking forward to seeing what the situation on the ground is,” Obama told reporters on Thursday before he left Washington. “I want to, obviously, talk to the commanders and get a sense, both in Afghanistan and in Baghdad of, you know, what the most, ah, their biggest concerns are. And I want to thank our troops for the heroic work that they’ve been doing.”

It is the first trip to Afghanistan for Obama, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee. This week, he proposed deploying 10,000 more troops to battle resurgent forces in Afghanistan, a plan intended to shift the American military focus from the Iraq war to the central fight against terrorism.

The proposal has become a centerpiece of Obama’s foreign policy and a major point of disagreement with McCain, who maintains that both places are major battlegrounds and disputes Obama’s suggestion that the war in Iraq has distracted the US from its efforts in Afghanistan.