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Mark Mardell
North America editor
Obama's secret trip to Afghanistan
Presidents Obama and Karzai signed the Strategic Partnership Agreement after 19 months of talks
Air Force One touched down in Afghanistan in the dead of night.
The lights didn't come on when President Barack Obama emerged, and he was illuminated only briefly by the flash of cameras.
Great secrecy has surrounded the visit, but the president will hope there is huge publicity about what he's doing.
Before he formally launches his re-election campaign, he wants to stress that the war is over, but he is not leaving Afghanistan in the lurch.
He went to the palace to sign a Strategic Partnership Agreement, which has been 19 difficult months in the making.
It makes clear the US does not seek permanent military bases in Afghanistan but will "provide a long term framework for security and defence co-operation".
The president has already spoken to the troops, telling them that they embodied the best of American values and they would not be forgotten when they were back home and out of uniform.
He will make a major address to the American people tonight, saying that Afghan troops will be in the lead in combat roles from next year onwards, but there will be no new announcement about troop withdrawal.
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Fast Track
Comment number 1.
byebyecameron2nd May 2012 - 0:22
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 2.
A Realist2nd May 2012 - 0:27
We all hope the war in Afghanistan/Pakistan will end. But I fear it won't. We're going to have to face up to the madmen at some time, but apparently not now. I prefer the battleground when it's outside Europe & the USA. You cannot appease their mad ideological leaders. I include Iran. They understand "Winning". We in the West have forgotten how to Win. We simply offer the other cheek.
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Comment number 3.
TurnItOffThenBackOnAgain2nd May 2012 - 0:52
How can he want to stress the war is over? It will only end when the fighting stops.
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Comment number 4.
McJakome2nd May 2012 - 1:11
You mean it's still going on, after President George Hosanna Gloriosa Bush's Mission Accomplished costume performance? NO, say it isn't so! Would a GOP President lie to us?
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Comment number 5.
allbwell2nd May 2012 - 2:18
Obama is right..... the USA cannot just 'cut and run' out of Afghanistan. It was a moral obligation to go there and liberate Afghanistan from the repression or the Taliban and change the 'mind-set' that those Islamic people have about the West. Giving them the ability to rise from anarchy to become a country with a government (however tenuous) is a great achievement. But it must be finished.
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Comments 5 of 13