Sunday, March 28, 2010

Obama Makes Unaccounced Trip to Afghanistan

(CNN) -- President Obama made an unannounced trip to Afghanistan on Sunday.

The president left his Camp David, Maryland, retreat for the trip and flew to Afghanistan on Air Force One, landing at Bagram Air Base at 7:24 p.m. (around 11 a.m. ET).

Obama then flew on a helicopter to the Presidential Palace for a meeting with Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai.

The two presidents took part in a 10-minute arrival ceremony before walking into the palace.

In a briefing with pool reporters on the trip, National Security Adviser James Jones said Obama would push Karzai to improve efforts to meet benchmarks for better governance in his second term, which began last year.

According to Jones, Obama planned to point out that more attention was needed to certain issues -- such as a merit-based system for appointing key government officials, battling corruption and taking on narcotics trafficking that helps fund insurgents.

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