Obama In Afghanistan For Visit With Karzai

Democrat Will Talk To Commanders On The Ground During High-Stakes Visit

KABUL, Afghanistan (CBS) ― Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama started a campaign-season tour of combat zones and foreign capitals, visiting first with U.S. troops in Kuwait and then flying to Afghanistan - the scene of a war he says deserves more attention and more troops.

The Illinois senator arrived Saturday as part of an official congressional delegation, but the Afghan visit, Obama's first and coming less than four months before the general election, was rich with political implications. Republican presidential rival John McCain has criticized Obama for his lack of time in the region. Obama is also expected to stop later in Iraq.

CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan, traveling with the delegation in Kabul, said that by visiting Afghanistan before Iraq, Obama is signaling the primary importance of the war in Afghanistan in his campaign.

Robert Gibbs, a campaign spokesman, said Obama arrived in Kabul around noon. En route from Washington, he made a stopover in Kuwait to meet with U.S. forces stationed there, Gibbs said.

Sultan Ahmad Baheen, spokesman for Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry, confirmed the senator was in Afghanistan and that he would meet with President Hamid Karzai.

"I look forward to seeing what the situation on the ground is," Obama told a pair of reporters who accompanied him 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."

Obama had recently chided Karzai and his government, saying it had "not gotten out of the bunker" and helped to organize the country or its political and security institutions.

Underscoring the challenges in Afghanistan, authorities reported Saturday that a roadside bomb killed four policemen in the volatile south of the country where the Taliban-led insurgency is intensifying nearly seven years after a U.S.-led invasion ousted the militant movement from power.

Obama advocates ending the U.S. combat role in Iraq by withdrawing troops at the rate of one to two combat brigades a month. But he supports increasing the military commitment to Afghanistan, where the Taliban has been resurgent and Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding.

"Because Barack Obama has proposed an increase in U.S. troops to Afghanistan - and because the conflict on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border has intensified - the senator's foreign trip begins with a focus on his aggressive approach to the war on terror, not on Iraq," said CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst Pamela Falk.

"The Middle East leg of the trip will be more delicate and the European tour more popular," Falk said. "By arriving in Afghanistan first, Obama is making a statement about his priorities."

Also on his travel itinerary is a meeting with Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi leader.

On the campaign trail, Obama has said one benefit of withdrawing U.S. troops is that it would pressure al-Maliki to shore up his government as well.

Nonetheless, he said he did not plan to reiterate those messages in person.

"I'm more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking, and I think it's very important to recognize that I'm going over there as a U.S. senator," he said. "We have one president at a time."

In a speech this week, Obama said the war in Iraq was a distraction, unlike the fighting in Afghanistan.

"This is a war that we have to win," he said. "I will send at least two additional combat brigades to Afghanistan, and use this commitment to seek greater contributions - with fewer restrictions from NATO allies.

"I will focus on training Afghan security forces and supporting an Afghan judiciary, with more resources and incentives for American officers who perform these missions."

By contrast, his opposition to the war in Iraq - and call for an end to the U.S. combat role - helped him overcome his rivals in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Lately, his efforts to explain how he will use what he learns from U.S. commanders to refine his proposals have brought charges from Republicans and complaints from Democratic liberals that he seems to be shifting his Iraq policy toward the political center. But Obama maintains his basic goal of ending the U.S. combat role soon remains unchanged and that he's always said the U.S. withdrawal must be done carefully.

Obama also arranged to visit Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and England, traveling aboard a jet chartered by his presidential campaign, before his return to the United States. The weeklong trip marks his only foreign excursion as a presidential candidate; McCain has visited Canada, Colombia and Mexico, in part to highlight Obama's opposition to trade deals with those allies.

Obama began his trip with as much secrecy as a presumed presidential nominee can muster.

The senator took an unmarked, corporate Gulfstream-III jet, much smaller than his normal campaign plane, from Chicago to Washington. He was joined by his Secret Service detail, spokeswoman Linda Douglass and two reporters.

Obama deplaned at Reagan National Airport in Washington, took one question apiece from the reporters, and then his motorcade departed for a hasty ride to Andrews Air Force Base about 10 miles away in Maryland.

Upon his arrival, Obama was greeted by a group of Air Force personnel at the bottom of stairs leading to the military Boeing 737 transporting his congressional delegation. Obama's traveling companions, Sens. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Jack Reed, R.I., were not visible to the reporters, but Douglass confirmed they were already on board the aircraft.

Both senators, each a veteran, have been mentioned as potential Obama vice presidential running mates, but Reed has said he's not interested in the job.

As Obama boarded the plane, luggage in hand, a pair of uniformed Air Force officers at the foot of the stairs saluted simultaneously, as they do each time President Bush boards Air Force One.

The only staff member to accompany Obama was a Senate foreign policy aide, Mark Lippert. He is a Navy reservist who returned in late spring from a tour of duty in Iraq.

(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)