Kerry returns to Afghanistan

[karynnj]

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry has quietly returned to Kabul to continue talks with Afghan president Hamid Karzai, according to his spokesman, Frederick Jones. Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, left Kabul on Wednesday to tour flood-affected areas of Pakistan, but made a second, unexpected trip back to Afghanistan, apparently to resume meetings with the Afghan president about anticorruption efforts, and about Karzai's decree that American contractors should leave the country within four months.

“As part of his ongoing efforts to assess conditions on the ground, Senator Kerry has returned to Afghanistan to complete his meetings with Karzai and US officials, and will visit with soldiers," Jones said.

Kerry was due to leave the region tonight, but opted to postpone for reasons his aides did not disclose.

Last year, Kerry made a second, unexpected trip to Kabul to convince Karzai to accept the findings of an international elections commission. After that trip, Kerry was widely credited for helping to resolve a dangerous impasse between Karzai and the international community.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2010/08/kerry_returns_t.html

[beachmom]

1. Saw that. I wonder what is going on.

[Inuca]

2. Another link with bit more info

and a nice picture and a couple of indescribably idiotic comments.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67I61D20100819?type=politicsNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FPoliticsNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Politics+News%29&utm_content=Twitter

[karynnj]

3. The last one defies reason - not to mention, Kerry was, of course, born in 1943

The other comments are asinine and typical right wing nonsense, but at least not verging on insanity.

[Luftmensch067]

5. I was laughing my head off at that one!

Sometimes I wish he was an alien -- with the power to vaporize angry morons!

[MBS]

6. the birth dates were wrong for almost all the others on the list, too

. .. everyone except Al Gore.
Idiots.

[karynnj]

7. True - except Dean, who is younger and Hillary who was born after the

sighting, but not nine months after, they were all born before it. Some very much before it - I can't believe that Boxer is almost 70, Feinstein is 76, and Pelosi is 70. They all look great for those ages.

[sandnsea]

11. The sighting?

Aw crud, now I have to click that link and see what craziness lurks beyond...

[YvonneCa]

9. That poster was quite a 'creative thinker'...

...to the point of being out of touch with reality. :7

I liked your response. ;)

[Luftmensch067]

10. I liked your response, too! n/t

[karynnj]

4. Here is a new Reuters article - the issue they worked on was corruption

(Karzai also won't budge on the 4 month deadline for contractors, which Kerry did not comment on - I kind of suspect that Kerry's goal was to extend that deadline. )

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSGE67J0FI

[karynnj]

8. Here's the WP article

In the first paragraph, they speak of Karzai saying he will support the 2 anti-corruption units that he has been fighting. (Like the runoff, I would guess that if he wouldn't this would be a crisis. So, it is again likely that Kerry has gotten Karzai to move where Obama wants him to. )

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/20/AR2010082002034.html