Opinions divided on visit by Obama

March 30, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Los Angeles Times

KABUL

Was it a salve, or was it a slap?

President Barack Obama’s visit to the Afghan capital, his first since taking office 14 months ago, came after months of tension between his administration and that of President Hamid Karzai.

In Kabul, opinion was divided as to whether the U.S. president’s six-hour nighttime stopover late Sunday and early Monday marked a potential turnaround in relations or the continuation of a stubborn impasse in a crucial alliance.

Some here were miffed that Obama had not visited sooner. Others, though, said the U.S. leader was right to stay away — with his absence a clear message to Karzai that a business-as-usual attitude toward corruption and graft was not acceptable.

After arriving aboard Air Force One at a U.S. base north of Kabul, Obama flew by helicopter to Karzai’s heavily fortified presidential palace for meetings with the Afghan leader and senior aides.

Karzai can be effusive and charming when he wants to be, and some observers were struck by the stiffness of his public manner toward Obama as the two greeted each other. Correct, yes — warm, no.

Other participants, though, described the mood as cordial, particularly at a traditional sit-down Afghan dinner consisting of heaping mounds of rice, steaming kebabs, fresh fruit juices and sweets all around.

“There was laughing, there was joking,” said Omar Zakhilwal, the Western-educated minister of finance, who described a lengthy discussion with Obama about the need to build the capacity of Afghan institutions.

“He asked very, very informed questions,” Zakhilwal said approvingly.

The presence of reform-minded ministers such as Zakhilwal at the talks was at the explicit request of the American side. That was read in some quarters as an implicit rebuke to Karzai, who had little tangible progress to point to on the anti-corruption front despite near-constant U.S. prodding.