Biden visits Pakistan, Afghanistan
Meetings stress importance of countering terrorism
KABUL, Afghanistan – Vice President-elect Joseph Biden made a heavily guarded visit to Afghanistan on Saturday, meeting with top Afghan and U.S. military leaders after a quick stop in Pakistan to stress continued U.S. support in the fight against terrorism across South Asia.
The Democratic senator from Delaware, accompanied by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was briefed by top U.S. military officials as the United States prepares to make a major new commitment of troops and counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan, which is facing an aggressive Taliban insurgency.
Biden also met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whom he has deemed weak and ineffective. Karzai, who is running for re-election, has excoriated U.S. forces for causing civilian casualties during bombing raids and more broadly has sought to distance himself from the foreign defense forces his government invited to help restore order after the fall of the Taliban in late 2001.
A spokesman for the U.S. military here, Col. Gregory Julian, said Biden met with Gen. David McKiernan, commander of American and NATO troops in Afghanistan, who stressed that the plan to send as many as 30,000 additional U.S. troops to the country will require an array of military “enablers,” including helicopters and a variety of supplies.
Biden, whose visit was shrouded in secrecy and included no public statements or press briefings, also spoke with NATO staff members at a military base in Kabul, telling them that their work is extremely important. U.S. Army photos, the only record of his visit, showed Biden greeting U.S. and NATO military staffers.
Biden, who is scheduled to assume the vice presidency after he and President-elect Barack Obama are sworn in on Jan. 20, arrived here Saturday from Pakistan, where he met with senior civilian and military leaders. Biden expressed support for Pakistan as an ally in fighting terrorism and urged the government to take an even tougher stand against Islamist extremism.
After his visits in Kabul, U.S and Afghan official sources said, Biden is expected to meet with Afghan leaders at an undisclosed location outside the capital today.