Barack Obama lands in Afghanistan, will see Karzai

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
US Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday on a campaign-season tour of combat zones and foreign capitals, making his first visit to the scene of a war that he says deserves more attention and more troops. Robert Gibbs, a campaign spokesman, said Obama arrived in Kabul around noon. Sultan Ahmad Baheen, spokesman for Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry, confirmed that the senator was in the country and would meet with President Hamid Karzai. "I look forward to seeing what the situation on the ground is," Obama told a pair of reporters prior to his departure from Andrews Air Force Base on Thursday. "I want to, obviously, talk to the commanders and get a sense both in Afghanistan and in Baghdad of, you know, what the most, their biggest concerns are, and I want to thank our troops for the heroic work that they've been doing."