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Obama in Afghanistan to sign security pact
His war address will come exactly one year after special forces, on his order, began the raid that led to the killing of bin Laden in Pakistan.
Since then, ties between the United States and Afghanistan have been tested anew by the burning of Muslim holy books at a U.S. base and the massacre of 17 civilians, including children, allegedly by an American soldier.
Obama’s overarching message will be that the war is ending on his watch but the U.S. commitment to its ally is not.
Politics, too, set the tone for what the White House hoped would be a positive message and image for Obama: the commander in chief setting a framework to end the war while reassuring Afghanistan, on its soil, it will not be abandoned.
At home, Obama’s Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, has retorted to the Obama campaign’s suggestion that Romney might not have gone after bin Laden as Obama did.
“Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order,” Romney said of the Democratic president ousted after one term.
Obama has tried to portray inconsistency in Romney’s position on the merits of targeting bin Laden. Without mentioning Romney by name, Obama has said he has been consistent and if others have not, “let them explain it.”
