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Obama Under Scrutiny During Trip To Afghanistan

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The New York Times

Published: July 20, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan - Sen. Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday, opening a high-stakes foreign trip in a country that is increasingly the focus of his clash with Sen. John McCain in the presidential campaign over whether the war in Iraq has been a distraction in hunting down terrorists.

As Obama met with U.S. troops, military leaders and regional officials in eastern Afghanistan, he made no public statements in his first hours on the ground here, the first stop on a weeklong trip that will take him to Iraq, Israel and Western Europe.

But McCain quickly sought to raise questions about Obama's judgment on foreign policy, saying in a radio address Saturday that his Democratic opponent had been wrong about the increase in troops in Iraq, a strategy McCain said should be the basis for addressing deteriorating conditions in Afghanistan as well.

Obama flew to eastern Afghanistan, close to the border with Pakistan, to get a look at the region where U.S. troops are feeling the brunt of increased attacks from militants infiltrating the border from Pakistan. In selecting Afghanistan as the opening stop of his first overseas trip as the presumptive Democratic nominee, he was seeking to highlight what he says is its importance as the key front in the fight against terrorism.

The trip is intended to build impressions - and counter criticism - about his ability to serve on the world stage in a time of war. It carries political risk, particularly if Obama makes a mistake - the three broadcast network news anchors will be along for the latter parts of the trip - or is seen as the preferred candidate of Europe and other parts of the world. But his advisers think it offers a significant opportunity for him to be seen as a leader who can improve America's image.

"I'm more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking," Obama told reporters before leaving Washington. "And 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."

Even as the fragile economy has emerged as the chief issue on the minds of voters in the United States, on Saturday the presidential race unfolded with a foreign policy debate taking place across borders and time zones, a reminder that the nation is at war and that the candidates offer very different backgrounds and approaches when it comes to national security.

Obama landed in Kabul just before noon Saturday, his aides said, after stopping to visit - and play basketball with - American troops in Kuwait on his trip from Washington. In Afghanistan, he received a briefing from military commanders at Bagram Air Field and was scheduled to meet with President Hamid Karzai today.

While the Iraq war has been one of the dominant issues in the presidential campaign, Afghanistan has moved to the forefront of the foreign policy plans of both candidates. President Bush's agreement to a "general time horizon" for withdrawing U.S. troops in Iraq has opened the door to new consideration of strengthening the American and NATO presence in Afghanistan, which Obama and McCain both agree on in principle.

But Republicans were carefully watching Obama's trip. The White House also made clear Saturday that it was monitoring Obama, accidentally sending an internal e-mail message to reporters of a news report that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq supported Obama's proposed 16-month timeline for withdrawing combat troops from Iraq.

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