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July 20th, 2008
Posted: 06:22 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) — U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai Sunday — a leader that the Democratic senator has criticized for not doing enough to rebuild the war-torn nation. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee met with Karzai in the capital city of Kabul during Obama’s first visit to the Asian nation. The visit will also take Obama to the Middle East and Europe. And although he is making the trip as a senator from Illinois and not a presidential candidate, it is aimed at boosting Obama’s foreign policy credentials. Obama has made Afghanistan a key focus of his foreign policy, saying that he would make it the central front in the “war on terror” if elected. In an interview with CNN last week, Obama criticized Karzai’s government, saying it “has not gotten out of the bunker and helped organize Afghanistan and government, the judiciary, police forces, in ways that would give people confidence.” It was not immediately known what Karzai and Obama talked during their meeting. But before leaving for Afghanistan, Obama said he was “more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking” during his meeting with Afghan leaders. “I think it is very important to recognize that I’m going over there as a U.S. senator. We have one president at a time, so it’s the president’s job to deliver those messages,” Obama said. |
 
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