*IN YOU BEEN SNAP BLOG * AFGHANISTAN " President Obama to address U.S. from Afghanistan one year after death of bin Laden... after SEALs slam him for taking credit for killing "

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President Obama will today address the nation from Afghanistan - where he has taken a secret trip to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai exactly one year after the death of Osama bin Laden.

The president arrived in Kabul shortly after 2.30 p.m. to sign an agreement with Karzai cementing the U.S. role in the country after the war ends in 2014.

He will give a speech on the war effort that will be broadcast in the U.S. at 7.30 p.m.

Together: President Obama has arrived on a secret trip to Afghanistan, where he has signed an agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai about the U.S. presence in the country after the war;

The agreement with Karzai covers how the U.S. will be involved with security, economics and governance after the unpopular war is brought to an end.

It will essentially give both sides political cover: Afghanistan gets its sovereignty but knowledge it won't be abandoned, while the U.S. ends its combat mission but keeps a foothold in the country.

While the deal does not force the U.S. to maintain an troop presence, it does allow the nation to keep forces in the country after the war ends for training and targeted operations against al Qaeda.


Obama arrived at Bagram Airfield - the main U.S. airbase in the nation - and was greeted by Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.

He then flew by helicopter to the presidential palace in Kabul to sign the agreement with Karzai.

Obama will be in Afghanistan, where the U.S. has been engaged in war for more than a decade following 9/11, for about seven hours.

In agreement: Obama and Karzai sign the strategic partnership agreement at the presidential palace in Kabul;

A done deal: Obama and Karzai shake hands after signing the agreement, which outlines how the U.S. will be involved with security, economics and governance " ONLY IF YOUR NOT LOOKING ,MBUTA NANGA!!

Support: Obama will deliver a speech to the U.S. later tonight in which he will say that although the war finished on his watch, the commitment to the country will continue;

His speech is scheduled for 7.30 p.m., which is 4 a.m. local time. It will come exactly a year after special forces, on his order, began the raid that led to the killing of bin Laden in Pakistan.

Its message will be that the war is ending on his watch but the U.S. commitment to its ally is not, the Associated Press reported.


Media travelling with Obama had agreed to keep it secret until Obama had flown to the nation's capital, Kabul, where Taliban insurgents launch lethal attacks.

As he battles for re-election, Obama is seeking to portray his foreign policy record, including the killing of bin Laden, as a success - yet it has also come under scrutiny today.

Serving and former US Navy SEALs slammed the president for taking the credit for killing bin Laden and accused him of using Special Forces operators as ‘ammunition’ for his re-election campaign.

Side by side: President Obama and President Karzai signed the agreement at the presidential palace in Kabul

 

In it President Bill Clinton is featured saying that Obama took ‘the harder and the more honourable path’ in ordering that bin Laden be killed. The words ‘Which path would Mitt Romney have taken?’ are then displayed.
The White House is also marking the first anniversary of the SEAL Team Six raid that killed bin Laden inside his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan with a series of briefings and an NBC interview in the Situation Room designed to highlight the ‘gutsy call’ made by the president.
Mr Obama used a news conference to trumpet his personal role and imply that his Republican opponent Mr Romney, who in 2008 expressed reservations about the wisdom of sending troops into Pakistan, would have let bin Laden live.
‘I said that I'd go after bin Laden if we had a clear shot at him, and I did,’ Mr Obama said. ‘If there are others who have said one thing and now suggest they'd do something else, then I'd go ahead and let them explain it.'

Unannounced visit: President Obama shakes hands with U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker after arriving at Bagram Air Base in Kabul, Afghanistan. He will address the U.S. from the country tonight;

Arrival: Obama, pictured leaving Air Force One, is in Afghanistan exactly one year after the death of bin Laden;

Welcome: President Obama is also in Afghanistan to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai