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President Obama's Surprise Visit To Troops In Afghanistan

ABC News (and now the White House) is reporting that President Obama, in a surprise visit, has just landed in Afghanistan to visit with U.S. troops.


First Pool Report- Excerpted. (11:33 am EST)

President Obama arrived in Afghanistan at 8:35 pm. Air Force One was wheels down at Bagram Air Base. POTUS stepped off the plane at 8:48 pm. He was greeted by Gen. David Petreaus and Amb. Eikenberry.

POTUS is expected to be on the ground for 3 hours. The schedule has changed and continues to. POTUS was initially expected to helo to Kabul to meet with Karzai. Cancelled. Then they were to do secure videoconference from Bagram. That is also cancelled.

From Robert Gibbs: Due to weather and technical problems, the secure videoteleconference is now a phone call.

The President, most noteably, wanted to visit with the troops during the holidays, citing, "It's a particularly tough time of year."

Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Ssecurity Advisor for Strategic Communications, noted that the visit was planned over a month ago.

Second pool report - also excerpted.  (11:57 am EST)

POTUS is currently doing the phone call with Karzai, then he will meet with Eikenberry and Petraeus.

Then he will do the hospital visit.Then he will do the speech to troops - about 30-40 minutes from now.

Then TBD, possibly a smaller greet with troops.

POTUS's attire: brown leather bomber jacket, dark slacks.
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