Obama hits stormy weather in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan Friday night to spread a bit of holiday cheer among the troops serving in the long and bloody conflict.

“I know it’s not easy for all of you to be away from home, especially during the holidays,” said Obama, speaking to a group of soldiers. “But here’s what I want you to know. As President of the United States, I have no greater responsibility than keeping the American people secure. I could not meet that responsibility, we could not protect the American people, we could not enjoy the blessings of our liberty without the extraordinary service that each and every one of you perform each and every day.”

Along with boosting morale among the soldiers, Obama had planned to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a man whose relations with Washington have been highly fractious recently.

But just before Air Force One touched down at Bagram Air Force Base, located approximately 30 miles north of Kabul, the press was informed that plans for a working dinner at the Presidential Palace and a visit to the U.S. Embassy had to be cancelled due to stormy weather. Dust and wind made it impossible for helicopters to lift off, said Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications.

For those sitting in Kabul under calm and crystal-clear skies, the explanation was a bit curious. But U.S. officials insisted that the weather in Bagram, just an hour away by car, was the problem.

“The standard here is to defer to the experts, the weather experts and the pilots,” General Douglas Lute told media on the flight back to Washington.

With Kabul no longer on the program, Obama was free to concentrate on what his aides said was the primary goal of the trip: meeting with U.S. soldiers, to whom he delivered a rousing speech.

“The freedom and the liberty that we treasure, that’s not simply a birthright,” he said. “It has to be earned by the sacrifices of generations — generations of patriots, men and women who step forward and say, 'send me.'”

The U.S. president also gave a very positive assessment of the situation in Afghanistan, telling the troops they were accomplishing their mission.

“We said we were going to break the Taliban’s momentum, and that’s what you’re doing … Today we can be proud that there are fewer areas under Taliban control and more Afghans have a chance to build a more hopeful future.”

But the president’s remarks were at odds with a recent Pentagon report, which acknowledged that progress had been spotty. While there had been some advances in areas of greater troop concentration, said the report, overall the insurgency was gaining ground.

“The insurgency has a number of strengths, the most significant strength and main effort being the speed and decisiveness of their information operations and media campaign,” read the report. “Organizationally, the insurgency’s capabilities and operational reach have been qualitatively and geographically expanding, as evidenced by a greater frequency and wider dispersion of insurgent-initiated attacks.”

White House officials on the trip sought to downplay the scrapped meeting with Karzai, saying that, since the two leaders had conferred just two weeks ago in Lisbon, the need for another conversation was not as great as it might have been.

A secure video teleconference was also abandoned due to technical difficulties. In the end, the two presidents had a 15-minute phone call that seemed largely limited to generalities.

White House aides said that the sensitive subject of corruption did not come up, nor was there any reference to recent WikiLeaks revelations that quoted senior American officials portraying Karzai in a extremely unflattering light.

Kabul observers, used to looking behind official explanations, were skeptical of the official version of events.

“The weather was just an excuse,” said Haroon Mir, director of the Afghan Research and Policy Center in Kabul. “One year ago Obama asked Karzai to fight corruption and improve governance. He was not asking for miracles. But Karzai did nothing. Why reiterate these demands? What purpose would it serve?”

According to Mir, Obama’s cancellation was a considered response to Karzai’s recent behavior, not a meteorological accident.

“It is time to send a signal to President Karzai that he can no longer count on unconditional support,” said Mir. “Who can stand beside Karzai and support him now?”

Military analyst General Hilaluddin Hilal agreed.

“According to all the rules, Obama should have come here to Kabul,” he said. “But they used diplomatic language to say it was the weather. This shows the degree of mistrust between the two countries. They do not have the same goals. The Afghan government is emphasizing negotiation and reconciliation, while the United States has its own ideas about the war on terror. They are ignoring the Afghan position on this.”

“Reconciliation” is codeword for making a political settlement with the Taliban, something that the United States has long been reluctant to do. Talks about negotiations gathered steam a few months ago, only to collapse over embarrassing revelations that the Afghan government, along with British and American officials, had been dealing with an imposter.

Meanwhile, the United States is ramping up its military operations, conducting an ever more aggressive campaign against the Taliban insurgency.

But so far the military efforts have not brought much peace of mind to Afghans.

“We are not seeing tangible progress here,” said Mir. “Security is deteriorating. Obama is just echoing what General Petraeus has been saying for the past few months.”

So, while the three-hour visit may prove good for overall morale, it is not likely to improve the troubled relations between Washington and Kabul.

“In the short term, the impact (of Obama’s visit) will be small; tensions will not go away,” said General Hilaluddin. “In the longer term, if the two sides do not agree on their goals, there will be many problems which will seriously affect the fight against terrorism.”