US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama met the commander of US troops in eastern Afghanistan today to talk about the war he says is not getting enough attention from the Bush administration.
Mr Obama made Afghanistan the first stop on an overseas trip aimed at proving his foreign policy credentials. He will also visit Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and Britain.
"I want to, obviously, talk to the commanders and get a sense, both in Afghanistan and in Baghdad of ... what ... their biggest concerns are," he told reporters before boarding a military flight from the United States. "And I want to thank our troops for the heroic work that they've been doing."
Mr Obama wants to send two more brigades, or about 7,000 U.S. troops, to Afghanistan to shift emphasis from what he calls the Bush administration's "single-minded" focus on Iraq. He has called for a withdrawal of US troops from Iraq in 16 months.
The United States has about four times more troops in Iraq than the 36,000 it has in Afghanistan. But more of its soldiers were killed in Afghanistan in both May and June than in Iraq.
It is more than six years since US-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban for sheltering al-Qaeda leaders behind the September 11 attacks, but violence has risen sharply in recent months and there are few signs the insurgency is weakening.
Obama and fellow senators Jack Reid and Chuck Hagel got a briefing from US General Jeffrey Schloesser, the commander of NATO-led forces in the east and US-led coalition forces across the country at Bagram airfield, close to the capital Kabul.
"Following the briefing, the senators were able to meet service members from their respective states at Bagram, and also at Jalalabad Air Field," the US military said in a statement.
Jalalabad is close to the eastern border with Pakistan. Nato says attacks are up by 40 per cent in the east this year due to ceasefires between Pakistan and militants in its tribal belt.
Mr Obama's Republican presidential rival, John McCain, also wants three more brigades in Afghanistan and pledged to find the extra troops by "asking Nato to send more and by sending US troops as they become available."
But despite the violence, many Afghanistan analysts doubted sending more troops was the answer.
"I don't think decreasing or increasing troop numbers is going to yield a long-term stability here, or peace," said Matt Waldman, policy adviser to Oxfam International.
More effective aid, rural development and conflict resolution at a local level are the real priorities, he said.