Obama in Afghanistan: “Time of War” Is Ending

President Barack Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan. He affirmed a strategic 10-year partnership and spoke to Americans, announcing that “the time of war” had ended. Obama’s stay in Afghanistan lasted less than seven hours total. A little after sundown, Air Force One touched down in Bagram Air Base and from there a helicopter took him to Kabul, where he met with the Afghan President Hamid Karzai to seal the “strategic partnership agreement” with its 10-year duration, which begins in force at the end of 2014 when the last American soldier will have left.

It took 20 months of negotiations to arrive at the text which lays out what will come after the end of Operation Enduring Freedom, begun in response to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, launched by al-Qaida. Obama himself illustrated the plan to the Americans, speaking for 11 minutes on live TV from a hanger on Bagram Air Base, with some armored vehicles in the background. “We will work with the Afghans to determine what support they need to accomplish two narrow security missions beyond 2014: counter-terrorism and continued training. But we will not build permanent bases in this country, nor will we be patrolling its cities and mountains,” said Obama, in order to transmit to the country the perception that the “time of war” is ending.

“This time of war began in Afghanistan, and this is where it will end. With faith in each other and our eyes fixed on the future, let us finish the work at hand, and forge a just and lasting peace,” added Obama, underlining that the upcoming NATO summit in Chicago will ratify the hand-off of security responsibilities to Afghan forces at the end of 2014. “We can see the light of a new day on the horizon,” Obama concluded, referring to the elimination of bin Laden as the moment of change which made this possible: “And one year ago, from a base here in Afghanistan, our troops launched the operation that killed Osama bin Laden. The goal that I set – to defeat al-Qaida, and deny it a chance to rebuild – is within reach.”

After having completed the return of troops from Iraq, Obama is assuring Americans that the Afghan conflict is also ending in an evident attempt to present it as proof of his reelection in November, being able to brag about having ended the post 9/11 era of war. But from New York, the city most hurt by al-Qaida’s attacks, he is answered by Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, who accuses him of politicizing the elimination of bin Laden and of “trying to draw a distinction between himself and myself was an inappropriate use of the event that brought America together, which was the elimination of Osama bin Laden.”