The trip was not announced before the president was on the ground at Bagram Air Base. Obama: Out of Afghanistan in 2014

Sandwiched between a week of outrage over Veterans Affairs mismanagement and a major foreign policy speech to West Point graduates Wednesday, President Barack Obama’s surprise trip to Afghanistan on Sunday included his pledge to lead “a responsible end” to all American combat operations there by year’s end.

Standing in a bomber jacket on stage at a rally with some of the 32,000 troops still stationed in the country, Obama told them that they would be coming home soon, with Afghan forces finally ready to take over responsibility and security.


“We’re at a pivotal moment,” Obama said. “For many of you, this will be your last tour in Afghanistan.”

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The promise, made to a rally of troops there, was followed by a visit to wounded service members at the military hospital on Bagram Air Base, capping off a visit that lasted less than four hours on the ground.

With the allegations of Veterans Affairs health facility misconduct and mismanagement hanging over him, Obama said that while the combat mission will end, America’s commitment to the troops will not.

“Our obligations to you and your families have only just begun,” he said.

Obama’s short trip to Afghanistan began with an on-site briefing from commanders on the ground, including ambassador to Afghanistan James Cunningham and Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the commander of American and International Security Assistance Force forces in the country.

“The main reason I took this trip is to make sure that everybody knows as we come into Memorial Day weekend that … we are aware of the sacrifices that so many have made … in Afghanistan,” Obama said toward the close of the meeting, as pool reporters were led into the trailer where they met.

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Obama referenced a poster of the Twin Towers he saw as he came into the trailer, reflecting on his visit to the new National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York last week.

“It is a reminder of why we are here,” he said.

He cited progress in Afghanistan, adding, “I will be honest with you, it has gone better than I might have expected a year ago.”

Obama then spoke to the troops after a performance by country music star Brad Paisley, who arrived with the president aboard Air Force One.

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Obama did not meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai — or Abdullah Abdullah or Ashraf Ghani, the two candidates in the runoff to succeed him. However, the White House reported that Obama had a phone conversation with Karzai before leaving Bagram that lasted up to 20 minutes.

Explaining the decision not to meet with Karzai, a White House official said: “This trip is focused on thanking our troops.”

“We did offer him the opportunity to come to Bagram, but we’re not surprised that it didn’t work on short notice,” the official said. “The president will likely be speaking by phone with President Karzai in the days to come and also looks forward to working with Afghanistan’s next president after the election is complete.”

The trip, timed for Memorial Day weekend, was not announced before the president was on the ground at Bagram Air Base. This marks his fourth trip to the country, and first since 2012, when he came for just a few hours under cover of night to deliver a speech broadcast back home on the anniversary of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

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En route to the air base, deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters on Air Force One that the speech comes ahead of more announcements about American involvement in the country, where troops have been fighting since shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.

The administration is “making some decisions about the future of our commitment to Afghanistan,” Rhodes said, adding that Obama wanted to get a briefing from his commander on the ground and ambassador first. Rhodes said that this trip was important “before he articulates a decision.”

No decisions on a post-Afghan force have been made so far, Rhodes said, though adding that the White House did recently host a National Security Council meeting about the path forward. One major issue holding up that decision: the bilateral security agreement that Karzai has refused to sign, much to the frustration of the administration. Both candidates running to succeed him have said that they would be ready to sign it.

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The visit to the troops comes after a week of major criticism Obama faced for allegations of misconduct and mismanagement at Veterans Affairs health facilities, giving him an opportunity to visit and be cheered by troops after being attacked for not doing enough to take care of veterans.

Rhodes said the outrage over the VA situation did not “factor into the planning for the trip.”

In his weekly radio address Saturday, Obama urged Americans to remember all the troops who’ve died but also to pay attention to the needs of those who returned and need care.

“In recent weeks, we’ve seen again how much more our nation has to do make sure all our veterans get the care that they deserve,” Obama said. “Now that we’ve ended the war in Iraq and our war in Afghanistan ends as well, we have to work even harder as a nation to make sure all our veterans get the benefits and opportunities they’ve earned. They’ve done their duty and they ask nothing more than that this country does ours — now and for decades to come.”

And the Afghanistan trip comes just a few days before his speech at West Point, which will focus in part on the country’s path forward as it winds down the last of the American presence in Afghanistan and Iraq.

”As we reach the end of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, it’s a natural point to describe how we see our strategy moving out of this period of war, both in terms of counter-terrorism, and also in terms of our broader priorities around the world,” a White House official said Saturday, in a preview of the speech.

The official said the speech would be about laying out a broader philosophy of foreign policy than the president’s done responding to situations that have flared up over the past year. The vision, the official said, is “both interventionist and internationalist, but not isolationist or unilateral.”

On Obama’s 2012 trip to Afghanistan, which was also not announced publicly before he landed, the president left so quickly after delivering his speech to avoid being on the ground after sunrise that reporters were left running across the tarmac to reboard Air Force One.

Security concerns remain, Rhodes said, explaining the hushed and rushed nature of this trip.

“It is not the same motorcade, it is not the same footprint,” he said. “We just don’t want to take any risks with the president’s security.”

While in Afghanistan, Obama also released a statement on the election in Ukraine, which made clear the U.S. was not satisfied with continuing Russian intervention in the region.

“We also continue to support Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, condemn and reject Russia’s occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea, and remain committed to working with Ukraine and other partners to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict,” he said.