Politico: Senators span the globe, drop in on Afghanistan
By Scott Wong
A handful of senators are globetrotting this spring break -- with the latest stop an unannounced visit to Afghanistan.
After leading a congressional delegation to Seoul to discuss trade and security issues with Korea, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and a handful of other senators dropped in on the war zone to check U.S. progress.
The group, which included GOP Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio, Mike Johanns of Nebraska, Jerry Moran of Kansas and John Hoeven of North Dakota and Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, met with President Hamid Karzai, other Afghanistan officials and U.S. military leaders and diplomats, according to photos posted online by the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan.
McConnell’s office confirmed the trip to Kabul but said it won't comment until the senators are back safely in the U.S. But House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who led a bipartisan delegation to Afghanistan earlier this week, expressed concerns about President Barack Obama’s plans to begin withdrawing some of the 100,000 U.S. troops this summer that are stationed there.
“Any drawdown of U.S. troops must be based on the conditions on the ground, not on political calculations,” Boehner said in a statement.
The two Afghanistan visits come as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) leads a bipartisan group of nine other senators on a weeklong trip in China. So far, the trip has included meetings with top Chinese officials and business executives centered on trade, currency, security and human rights.
The senators also met with U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, a Republican who is mulling a run for the White House in 2012.
Meanwhile, a delegation led by Sen. Minority Leader Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) has been criss-crossing the Baltic region. Kyl’s group, which includes GOP Sens. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Mike Crapo of Idaho, has stops planned in Georgia, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania to discuss security and economic issues.
