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May 2, 2012

Obama Pays Surprise Visit to Afghanistan 
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President Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Tuesday to sign
a strategic agreement with the Afghan government and deliver an
election-year address touting the end of a more than decade-long war.
The Strategic Partnership Agreement signed with Afghan President Hamid
Karzai pledges U.S. support for Afghanistan for 10 years after the
withdrawal of the last U.S. soldiers at the end of 2014. In an address
to the U.S. public from Afghanistan, Obama said the war will one day
come to an end.

President Obama: "Today, I signed an historic agreement between the
United States and Afghanistan that defines a new kind of relationship
between our countries — a future in which Afghans are responsible
for the security of their nation, and we build an equal partnership
between two sovereign states; a future in which the war ends, and a new
chapter begins."

Hours after Obama's departure, the Taliban claimed responsibility for
several bombings in Kabul that killed at least seven people.

 

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