Obama, in Kabul, Presses Karzai to Root Out Government Corruption

March 29 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan to press Afghan President Hamid Karzai on rooting out corruption and improving government functions so the U.S. can begin handing over security.

While saying he’s “encouraged by the progress that’s been made” in Afghanistan, Obama said in Kabul that more must be done to make progress on benchmarks set as terms for U.S. support.

“All of us want to see a day when Afghanistan is going to be able to provide for its own security,” the president said after meeting with Karzai at the presidential palace.

Speaking later to U.S. troops at Bagram Airfield, Obama said the eight-year-old war in Afghanistan is “essential” to U.S. security because if the region slides into chaos, al-Qaeda and the Taliban will have a haven from which to attack.

“If I thought for a minute that America’s vital interests were not served I would order you home right away,” Obama told a crowd of soldiers, sailors, Marines and Air Force personnel. “You will have the support to get the job done and I am confident that you can get the job done.”

Obama went to Afghanistan as the U.S. role there is growing with an escalation of forces that he ordered last December, and as allied troops are engaged in an offensive against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.

Obama’s brief visit, his first to Afghanistan since becoming president, was intended to emphasize to Karzai that his government must crack down on corruption, fight the drug trafficking that helps fund the insurgency and institute merit- based systems for government appointments, according to James Jones, Obama’s national security adviser.

Attention to Governing

“There are going to be certain things he has to do as the president of his country that have not been paid attention to almost since day one,” Jones told reporters.

“We have to have the strategic rapport with President Karzai and his cabinet to understand how we are going to succeed this year in reversing the momentum the Taliban and the opposition forces have been able to establish since 2006,” he said.

Obama invited Karzai for talks in Washington in May.

“I want to send a strong message that partnership between the United States and Pakistan is going to continue,” Obama said. “We have seen already progress with respect to the military campaign against extremism, but we also want to continue to make progress on the civilian side.”

Karzai said he wanted the U.S. partnership to continue “toward a stable, strong, peaceful Afghanistan” and he thanked the U.S. for its help in rebuilding.

While in Afghanistan, the president also got briefings from the commander he installed last June, General Stanley McChrystal, and Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, said press secretary Robert Gibbs.

Nighttime Landing

Landing in darkness at Bagram, Obama travelled the 50 miles to Kabul by helicopter to meet with Karzai at the presidential palace. He had a separate session with Karzai’s cabinet.

The trip, kept secret because of security concerns, capped a week in which the president won a major domestic victory with passage of a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. health-care system and announced completion of a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia.

Obama campaigned for office on a pledge to shift U.S. military resources to Afghanistan from Iraq. A year ago he ordered 17,000 combat troops and 4,000 trainers to the country ahead of Afghanistan’s elections. In December, Obama ordered another 30,000 forces be sent to the country, which ultimately will expand the number of military personnel to 100,000. At the same time he asked North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries to contribute more resources to the conflict.

Battling the Taliban

The escalation is intended to reverse Taliban gains and train Afghans to take control of their country so American forces can begin withdrawing in July 2011.

The U.S. is leading a drive against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. A 30-day offensive by 15,000 Afghan and NATO troops, including U.S. Marines and British forces, culminated earlier this month with allies taking control of the town of Marjah.

It was the biggest operation against the Taliban since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan following the Sept. 11 attacks by al-Qaeda. Officials have said they are making plans for an even bigger assault on the Taliban heartland city of Kandahar.

The increased tempo of the U.S. military campaign has brought higher casualties. In the first two months of the year, 54 U.S. personnel were killed in action in Afghanistan, compared with 27 in the first two months of 2009, according to Defense Department figures. In all, 1,018 U.S. troops have died in Afghanistan, 742 of them as a result of combat, the Pentagon data show.

Regional Cooperation

As part of the Obama administration’s strategy, the U.S. also has strengthened its relationship with the government of neighboring Pakistan, whose army has been fighting a rise in terrorism after the Taliban and remnants of al-Qaeda fled Afghanistan and thousands of tribesmen joined their ranks.

Jones and Deputy National Security Adviser Douglas Lute emphasized the importance of a regional approach to Afghanistan’s stability and said the administration is encouraged by the role Pakistan is playing.

In 30 days, Karzai will convene a peace council with Afghan tribal and regional leaders, Lute said. Then in early May he hopes to host a foreign ministers conference in Kabul.

The effort has resulted in the capture of some top Taliban leaders in both countries and increased pressure on remnants of al-Qaeda hiding in tribal areas along the border with Pakistan.

The U.S. is still deploying the 30,000 additional troops that Obama authorized. The U.S. will have 98,000 troops there by Sept. 30 for a total of almost 150,000 from all 34 countries in the NATO-led coalition that aims to reverse Taliban gains and train Afghan security forces to begin taking over by July 2011.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, testifying to the Senate Appropriations Committee on March 25 said the Afghan army is making “real strides” and that changes are being made to improve training of Afghan police officers.