Biden Makes Surprise Visit to Afghanistan
The Washington Post reports:
Vice President Biden flew into Kabul on Monday night for a round of high-level meetings as the Obama administration seeks assurance that its Afghanistan strategy is taking hold.
Biden's unannounced visit brings him to the Afghan capital at a time of uncertainty in the war. Military commanders claim progress against the Taliban in the areas where they've concentrated U.S. troops, particularly in the southern Afghan provinces of Kandahar and Helmand. And President Obama last month called the war effort "on track."
But the insurgency remains potent in wide swaths of the country. The Afghan government has strongly opposed parts of the U.S. military strategy and not yet addressed its own problems with corruption. Insurgent leaders, meanwhile, operate safely from sanctuaries in Pakistan.
U.S. military officials are waiting until spring, when the Taliban fighting season typically resumes, before drawing firmer conclusions about how much they've disrupted the insurgency and whether the Afghan government has stepped into the gap.
The recent death of Obama's special envoy to the region, Richard C. Holbrooke, removed a diplomatic heavyweight from the scene and raised questions about whether the Obama administration will shift its approach.
Holbrooke's acting successor, Frank Ruggiero, was also in Kabul on Monday following a visit to Pakistan. He came in part to assure officials in both countries that Holbrooke's position of special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan - a new office that has not always fit easily within the State Department - will remain intact, although Ruggiero is not expected to keep the job in the long term. ...
