WASHINGTON/KABUL (Reuters) – Shortly after sending U.S. troops to Afghanistan in October 2001, President George W. Bush focused so intently on freeing Afghan women from the shackles of Taliban rule that empowering them became central to the United States’ mission there.

More than a decade later, as his successor Barack Obama charts a way out of the unpopular war, Afghan girls are back in school, infant and maternal survival rates are up and a quarter of the parliament’s seats are reserved for women who at least on paper have the same voting, mobility and other rights as men.

WASHINGTON/KABUL, May 10 (Reuters) – Shortly after sending
U.S. troops to Afghanistan in October 2001, President George W.
Bush focused so intently on freeing Afghan women from the
shackles of Taliban rule that empowering them became central to
the United States’ mission there.

More than a decade later, as his successor Barack Obama
charts a way out of the unpopular war, Afghan girls are back in
school, infant and maternal survival rates are up and a quarter
of the parliament’s seats are reserved for women who at least on
paper have the same voting, mobility and other rights as men.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Sunday he was “absolutely comfortable” with allowing same-sex couples to marry, staking out a position on a hot-button social issue that appeared to differ from that of his boss, President Barack Obama.

In an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Biden was pressed on whether the Obama administration would seek to legalize gay marriage in a second White House term. He said he personally was open to the change.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Vice President Joe Biden said on Sunday the United States was ready to give blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng a visa “right away” and warned Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney would be weak on the international stage.

In a wide-ranging interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Biden also signaled he was open to legalizing gay marriage and said Secretary of State and former first lady Hillary Clinton has not decided whether to seek the presidency again in 2016.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Vice President Joe Biden said on Sunday the United States was ready to give blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng a visa “right away” and warned Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney would be weak on the international stage.

In a wide-ranging interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Biden also signaled he was open to legalizing gay marriage and said Secretary of State and former first lady Hillary Clinton has not decided whether to seek the presidency again in 2016.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Monday ducked a question about a Chinese dissident believed to be under U.S. protection in Beijing but said China will be stronger if it improves its human rights record.

At a news conference, Obama appeared to be walking a fine line between not saying anything to make it harder to resolve Chen Guangcheng’s case while conveying U.S. respect for human rights and U.S. appreciation for wider cooperation with China.

MCLEAN, Virginia (Reuters) – Former U.S. president Bill Clinton campaigned alongside Barack Obama for the first time in the 2012 race on Sunday, making an impassioned appeal to re-elect the White House incumbent and helping his fellow Democrat raise more than $2 million.

A white-haired and noticeably svelte Clinton, 65, pounded the podium with his fingers and palms and gestured vividly while addressing about 500 Obama supporters outside the Virginia home of his friend and Democratic advisor Terry McAuliffe.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled sanctions on Monday against those who help Syria and Iran track dissidents through cell phones and computers and said he would keep adding pressure on both governments to prevent mass atrocities.

In a sombre speech at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Obama said Damascus and Tehran were monitoring the social media tools that allowed democracy campaigners to organize rallies in the Middle East to plot attacks against opposition groups.

WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama
will announce sanctions on Monday on those helping Syria and
Iran acquire technology that lets them target dissidents through
their cell phone and Internet use.

Social media tools that allowed democracy campaigners to
organize rallies across the Middle East and North Africa are
being monitored by Tehran and Damascus to “facilitate serious
human rights abuses,” an administration official said.

ELYRIA, Ohio/CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Reuters) – President Barack Obama launched a new effort to woo Hispanics and took a swipe at Republican Mitt Romney’s “silver spoon” background on Wednesday as the two presidential rivals laid out sharply different economic visions to win over U.S. voters.

Obama, a Democrat, and Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, outlined the weaknesses they saw in each other’s economic plans in dueling speeches in Ohio and North Carolina.