Obama's doctrine on display:
The start of today's two-day Af-Pak summit is perhaps as good of an early example of what President Obama believes can be done on the international front. It may be seen some day as "quintessential Obama": bringing people together, holding numerous meetings on various levels (including non-military meetings with cabinet secretary equivalents), and talking -- then, like shampoo directions, rinse, wash, repeat, and (in this case) never stop. The administration is hoping to hold these trilateral meetings with Afghanistan and Pakistan multiple times a year. The next meeting will take place after Afghanistan’s elections in August. Here’s today’s agenda: Presidents Karzai and Zardari begin their day at the State Department for private bilateral and trilateral meetings with Secretary of State Clinton.
The two men then head to the White House for afternoon meetings with Obama -- first one-on-one (Karzai’s is at 2:00 pm ET; Zardari’s is at 2:40 pm), and then the trilateral at 3:30 pm. Obama will then deliver remarks at 4:15 pm. The day ends at the Naval Observatory, with Vice President Biden hosting a dinner for the two presidents, which will include key members of Congress. The summit continues Thursday with a slew of cabinet-level meetings led by Agriculture’s Tom Vilsack, DOJ's Holder, FBI's Mueller, and CIA's Panetta.
