Obama to troops in Afghanistan: 'You will succeed in your mission'

President Obama made a surprise trip to Afghanistan on Friday where he thanked U.S. troops and praised their efforts in the country.

With the war in its ninth year and Obama's year-end review of the war strategy he put in place just days away, the president flew through the night to say thank you to the troops during the holiday season.

The trip steered Obama's message to foreign policy as Friday's disappointing jobs report cast a cloud over the president's domestic agenda.

"I wanted to make sure that I could spend a little time this holiday with the men and women of the finest fighting force that the world has ever known," Obama said to raucous applause.

The president told the more than 3,000 troops gathered at Bagram Air Base that the additional troops he ordered to the country are now in place, "and thanks to your service, we are making important progress."

"You will succeed in your mission," Obama said.

Obama ordered an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan in a speech at West Point about one year ago.

"We said we were going to break the Taliban's momentum, and that's what you're doing," Obama said. "Going on offense. Tired of being on defense."

The president noted that he met with wounded soldiers before addressing the troops, and he awarded some purple hearts at the Bagram hospital.

"This is a tough business," Obama said, wiping at his eye. "Progress comes slow, and there are going to be difficult days ahead."

Still, the president said, the troops are protecting the U.S. by ensuring that Afghanistan will not be used as a safe haven for terrorists as it was before 9/11.

"That's why your mission matters so much," Obama said. "That's why you must succeed."

He added: "We remain the land of the free only because we are also the home of the brave."

In advance of the December review of the strategy, White House officials traveling with the president said the trip was less about Obama getting a view of what's happening on the ground and more about visiting the troops.

The president did, however, talk to Afghan President Hamid Karzai by phone for about 15 minutes Friday. The original plan called for Obama to travel by helicopter to Kabul to meet with Karzai in person, but bad weather changed that.

Obama's strategy calls for U.S. and coalition troops to begin transferring security responsibilities to Afghan troops next year.

Obama and NATO recently agreed that 2014 is the target date for the complete transfer of security responsibilities with NATO forces continuing in a support role.

The president is expected back at the White House on Saturday.

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Oz govt. in dock for stonewalling "US requests for additional troops in Afghanistan"

Sydney, Nov 19 (ANI): Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard must respond immediately to the allegations that the country has turned down repeated US requests to send more troops to Afghanistan, as being the premier, it is her duty to be "open and honest with the Australian public," the Opposition has said.

"I call upon the government to respond immediately," The Australian quoted Opposition Foreign Affairs Spokeswoman Julie Bishop, as saying to reporters in Sydney.

"As soon as she arrives in Lisbon, she must respond to these allegations," Bishop said of Gillard, who is on her way to a NATO conference on Afghanistan in Lisbon with Defence Minister Stephen Smith.

"It puts the government's credibility on the line, and there is no more solemn duty of a prime minister than to be open and honest with the Australian public about our commitment in Afghanistan," she added.

Noting that the government had "repeatedly denied" that America had made requests for additional troops, Bishop said, "Indeed, as recently as yesterday, the Prime Minister has denied that any formal or informal request had been made to her government to provide more troops."

She raised some questions for the government to answer: "Have any formal or informal requests for more troops been made to the government? If so, when were those requests made? What is the nature of those requests and what was the government's response?"

The allegations, if true, could have serious ramifications for Australia's relationship with the US, said Bishop, who also expressed the Opposition's concern at reports that some requests had not been passed on to the government by senior defence officers, because they "know, or they believe" that their requests will be rejected.

"If these allegations are true, it raises extremely serious questions, and the government must respond to them immediately," Bishop said.

Australia is the largest non-NATO contributor of troops to the conflict, with about 1550 personnel in Oruzgan province. But it has turned down repeated requests from the United States to bolster its commitment, Fairfax newspapers said on Friday.

According to one Australian Defence source, US officers have repeatedly said they are "sick and tired of Australia not doing enough ... they'd like us to be doing more".

The US has also been pushing for Australia to take the lead in Oruzgan province.

"Any discussion on leadership [in Oruzgan] is quickly terminated by Australian politicians," said another source.ccording to the paper, the Gillard government is opposed to any increase in Afghan troop levels above the current 1550 deployment. (ANI)

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