Republican response to Obama Afghan trip all over the map

Romney released a statement late Tuesday that said he was
“pleased” the president went to Afghanistan, as “our troops and the American
people deserve to hear from our president about what is at stake in this war.”

Romney did not criticize Obama and did not take a position
on the strategic partnership agreement Obama signed with Afghan President Hamid
Karzai, which allows for a U.S. presence in Afghanistan to remain through 2024.

{mosads}But Romney said that it would be “a tragedy for Afghanistan
and a strategic setback for America if the Taliban returned to power and once
again created a sanctuary for terrorists.”

Other Republicans took a harder line.

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) blasted Obama and called the
Afghanistan visit “campaign-related.”

“This trip to Afghanistan is an attempt to shore up his
national-security credentials, because he has spent the past three years
gutting our military,” Inhofe said in a statement. “Unfortunately, this president has allowed Washington and campaign politics to dictate his strategy
in Afghanistan, rather than the conditions on the ground.”

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) said
the president’s trip was “long overdue,” picking up on a line of GOP criticism that
Obama has lost public support for the war by not talking about it enough and
stressing its importance.

“It shouldn’t require congressional pressure, editorials
from leading newspapers and a presidential election to get the president
to fulfill his role as commander in chief and speak to the American people
about the war in Afghanistan,” McKeon said.

But several defense hawks in the Senate — some of the most
vocal critics of Obama’s Afghanistan policies — focused on the promise of the
agreement inked with the Afghans Tuesday, rather than attacking Obama.

Obama’s 2008 opponent Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who
repeatedly took
aim at Obama’s bin Laden campaign video, said Tuesday that the trip was
important because of the partnership agreement.

“While I will carefully examine the details of this
agreement, I am hopeful that it will send a signal to friends and enemies in
the region that the United States is committed to a secure and free
Afghanistan,” McCain said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a big proponent of the
strategic partnership agreement, congratulated Obama and his team for signing
the deal. “This is a day I have been looking forward to for over two years,”
Graham said.

“The agreement sends a signal we are not abandoning
Afghanistan and that we will provide assistance to the Afghans as they take the
lead engaging the enemy,” he said. “It is an insurance policy against the
re-emergence of Taliban and al Qaeda.”

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), who has seen vice presidential
rumors swirl after campaigning with Romney, also focused on the agreement,
and not the president’s speech.

“While many challenges remain, this strategic partnership
agreement signals to friend and foe alike that the U.S. will remain a key
security partner of the Afghan people for years to come,” she said.