Obama Breakfasts in Kabul with Troops

Well, it is 9:45 a.m. Kabul time and Obama is eating with the troops.

AP: Traveling with Obama were Sens. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, and Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island. Both are military veterans and have been mentioned as potential Obama vice presidential running mates, although Reed has said he is not interested in the job and Hagel would be an unlikely cross-party choice.

Obama and others in the delegation received a briefing Saturday inside the U.S. base in Jalalabad from the Afghan provincial governor of Nangarhar, Gul Agha Sherzai, a no-nonsense, bullish former warlord.

"Obama promised us that if he becomes a president in the future, he will support and help Afghanistan not only in its security sector but also in reconstruction, development and economic sector," Sherzai told The Associated Press.

The area where the meeting took place is not far from where Osama bin Laden escaped U.S. troops in 2001 after his al-Qaida network led the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

More photos

Obama Video from Kabul

Photos

Obama Arrives in Afghanistan

Update: first stories out of Afghanistan
Reporters say Obama has to be sure not too get too much love. That's silly. Obama should just be Obama. The people here who can't see beyond Obama's charisma will never vote for him. One thing he can't do is undermine Bush because Bush, unfortunately, is the president we elected.

CNN: Obama plans to visit Iraq, although details of the trip have have not been made public for security reasons.

Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska, and Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, are traveling with Obama.

The Democratic presidential hopeful's spoke briefly to a pool reporter about his trip just before leaving Washington.

"I'm looking forward to seeing what the situation on the ground is," Obama said. "I want to, obviously, talk to the commanders and get a sense, both in Afghanistan and in Baghdad of, you know, what the most, their biggest concerns are. And I want to thank our troops for the heroic work that they've been doing."

Asked if he would have tough talk for the leaders of Afghanistan and Iraq, Obama said he was "more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking."

"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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