His old pals....
NEW DELHI, March 1 -- President Bush made a previously unannounced visit to Kabul Wednesday to rally U.S. troops in Afghanistan and praise embattled Afghan leader Hamid Karzai at a time of rising violence from the Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorists.
After a four-hour visit, Bush landed in New Delhi Wednesday evening for two days of high-level talks about India's nuclear program and its booming economy.
  President Bush walks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Jim Young -- Reuters) VIDEO | Presidents Bush and Karzai in Kabul Who's Blogging?Read what bloggers are saying about this article.
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At a joint news conference with President Karzai, Bush expressed his hope that the United States and India could reach an agreement for the cooperative development of nuclear power to help fill the energy gap in India and fuel its rapid economic development.
"Hopefully, we can reach an agreement," Bush said. "If not, we'll continue to work on it until we do. It's in our interests and . . . in the interests of countries around the world that India develop a nuclear power industry because that will help alleviate demand for fossil fuels. . . . So what we are trying to do is have an international consortium that will enable countries to develop nuclear power industries in safe ways, ways that will prevent proliferation."
Iran is free to develop a nuclear power industry as well, he said. However, "Iran must not have a nuclear weapon," he said. "The most destabilizing thing that can happen in this region and in the world is for Iran to . . . develop a nuclear weapon."
Saying that the world is "speaking with one voice to the Iranians," Bush added, addressing Iran, "it's okay for you to have a civilian . . . nuclear power operation, but you shall not have the means, the knowledge, to develop a nuclear weapon."
In his second unannounced visit to a war zone since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists attacks in the United States, Bush flew to Bagram air base north of Kabul, then boarded a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter for a 20-minute flight to the presidential palace compound in the Afghan capital. As the helicopters carrying Bush and his entourage flew low over the landscape to thwart any attempts to shoot them down, a gunner on a chopper carrying journalists and military personnel fired a machine gun burst from a front window. Reporters were later told it was a routine "test fire" at a predesignated location.
After a meeting and a working lunch with Karzai, Bush rode in a motorcade through largely empty streets to the heavily secured U.S. Embassy for a ceremonial ribbon-cutting attended by about 200 people.
Accompanied by first lady Laura Bush and top U.S. officials, the president then choppered back to Bagram for a rally with about 500 mostly American troops. Then the presidential party reboarded Air Force One and flew to India.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the idea of stopping in Afghanistan was first brought to Bush about two months ago and quickly approved. He said planning for the trip -- a closely held secret that was revealed to the accompanying press corps only after departure from the United States -- had been underway for the past month.
Bush said at the brief joint news conference with Karzai that he wanted to send a message of appreciation to Afghans for their progress in building a democracy. "I hope the people of Afghanistan understand that as democracy takes hold, you're inspiring others," he said.
Asked why al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is still on the loose more than four years after U.S.-backed Afghan forces and American air power toppled the radical Islamic Taliban movement and drove him out of Afghanistan, Bush said: "I am confident he will be brought to justice. . . . We're making progress of dismantling al-Qaeda. Slowly but surely, we're bringing the people to justice." He said later that it was not a matter of "if" bin Laden and the deposed Taliban leader, Mohammad Omar, would be captured or brought to justice, but "when."
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