U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday arrived in Kabul to sign a strategic partnership agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, UPI reported. Obama departed Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington just after midnight and arrived at Bagram Air Base at 10:20 p.m., local time. He was flown to a location near the presidential palace where he was greeted by U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Lt. Gen. Mike Scaparotti, deputy commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Obama will make a 10-minute televised address from Bagram to the American people at 7:30 p.m. EDT. The partnership agreement, coming on the heels of the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Navy SEALs raid in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden, is expected to pledge U.S. assistance to Afghanistan through 2024, a decade beyond the scheduled end of NATO combat operations.
