WASHINGTON, Nov 2 (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama signaled on Monday that Washington’s support for Afghan leader Hamid Karzai would come with more strings attached, including a demand he get much tougher on rampant corruption. Obama called Karzai to congratulate him on winning a second five-year term after Afghan election officials scrapped a Nov. 7 run-off vote. Karzai’s only challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew from the election on Sunday, citing doubts about the fairness of the process. "I emphasized that this has to be a point in time in which we write a new chapter based on improved governance, a much more serious effort to eradicate corruption (and) joint efforts to accelerate the training of Afghan security forces," Obama said in the White House Oval Office. Karzai’s re-election capped weeks of political uncertainty that has complicated Obama’s efforts to revamp U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and decide on a request by his top commander there for up to 40,000 more troops to tackle deteriorating security. But analysts said Obama now faced an uphill battle in convincing a skeptical American public that Karzai deserved continued U.S. support, after a fraud-riddled election that saw millions of ballots favoring the Afghan leader thrown out. "It is going to be harder to sell domestically. Arguably the most consequential effect (of the election) has been here," said Stephen Biddle, who helped advise U.S. Afghan commander General Stanley McChrystal in a rethink of U.S. policy there. "They (the administration) are definitely going to attach more systematic strings to the thousands of things we do in Afghanistan every day. They are going to insist on government reforms, without which the campaign will fail," said Biddle, a military analyst. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs faced repeated questions at a briefing on how Washington could work with Karzai when his legitimacy had been so widely questioned after the tainted August vote. "President Karzai has been declared the winner … so obviously he is the legitimate leader of the country," said Gibbs, without directly addressing questions on whether the administration also saw him as credible. DEEDS NOT WORDS In his comments later, Obama said Karzai had assured him that he understood the importance of improving governance and stamping out corruption, "but as I indicated to him, the proof is not going to be in words, it is going to be in deeds." Obama administration officials want Karzai to sign onto measures to combat corruption. One option under discussion is creation of an anti-corruption commission with the authority to go after top officials. Washington is also ready to offer practical assistance to the next Afghan government, such as sending more civilian advisers to ministries to help improve services to wide swathes of the country, officials said. Gibbs said Obama would announce his new strategy "in the next few weeks." The timing had never been dependent on the outcome of the election, he said, although administration officials had previously suggested it was a factor. A senior administration official told Reuters at the weekend that Obama was not likely to announce his new strategy before he embarked on a 10-day trip to Asia on Nov. 11. The cancellation of the run-off is both a concern and a blessing for Obama. After U.S. troops suffered their bloodiest month in the eight-year-old war in October, his administration would have been reluctant to commit troops to police an election in which there was only one candidate and which the Taliban had vowed to attack. But it now has to work with a severely weakened leader whose government is viewed by many Afghans as both corrupt and inept. Relations between Karzai and Washington also soured after the fraud-tainted August election and U.S. officials had to pressure the Afghan president to stand in the run-off. With the run-off now canceled, Obama is likely to come under more pressure to make a decision soon on his strategy, although the White House has said such an important policy shift requires careful consideration. Republicans have been particularly critical of Obama, saying he is being overcautious. The House of Representatives Republican leader, John Boehner, said the scrapping of the run-off had removed the "pretext for delaying the decision on giving General McChrystal the resources he needs to achieve our goals in Afghanistan."There are some 67,000 U.S. troops in the country. (Writing by Ross Colvin; Additional reporting by Adam Entous, Caren Bohan and Steve Holland; Editing by Eric Walsh)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Saturday this week’s positive job and economic growth figures proved that his big spending efforts to stimulate the economy were working.

But he cautioned in his weekly radio address to Americans that “we have a long way to go before we return to prosperity” and more job losses were likely in coming days.

Democrats and Republicans agree the economy will be the top issue for the 2010 congressional elections, although the White House has disputed suggestions that they will be a judgment on Obama and his policies.

Voting in next week’s Virginia and New Jersey governors’ races will render a first judgment on Obama, who was sworn into office just over nine months ago in the midst of the worst recession since World War Two.

The U.S. unemployment rate remains stubbornly high at 9.8 percent, despite a $787 billion economic stimulus that Obama and his fellow Democrats, who control Congress, pushed through in February.

New unemployment numbers due out next Friday are expected to show U.S. employers cut 175,000 jobs in October, according to economists polled by Reuters. The unemployment rate is forecast to rise to 9.9 percent for October.

But new data this week showing the U.S. economy growing in the third quarter for the first time in more than a year, signaling the end of the worst recession in 70 years, was good news for the Obama administration.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama is unlikely to make a decision on his Afghanistan strategy and sending thousands more troops there before he embarks on his trip to Asia on November 11, a senior administration official said on Saturday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stressed that while a decision was unlikely before then, it had not been ruled out.

With violence this year reaching its worst levels in Afghanistan since the Taliban was ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001, Obama is under pressure to spell out U.S. plans.

It is unclear if Obama would wait until he returned from his November 11 -20 trip to unveil his decision or announce it while he was traveling in the region.

The timing of Obama’s announcement would not be influenced by outside factors, the official said, referring to the political upheaval in Afghanistan after a disputed presidential election in August. A run-off is scheduled for November 7.

Western diplomatic sources said President Hamid Karzai’s election rival, Abdullah Abdullah, was leaning toward pulling out of the run-off. Abdullah will announce his decision on Sunday.

Obama has faced criticism from Republican opponents, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, over his lengthy review of the strategy he put in place in March. Critics say he is being over-cautious and the delay in making an announcement on the way forward in Afghanistan is emboldening the Taliban.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A quarrel between the U.S. government and swine flu vaccine makers reached the highest level on Friday, with President Barack Obama expressing frustration at the slow pace of production.

Federal officials have slashed their initial estimates of how much H1N1 vaccine would be available — from 40 million doses by the end of October to 26 million doses available as of Friday.

Originally the Health and Human Services Department had predicted 20 million doses would roll out every week, but just 10 million have been produced in the past seven days.

HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius has said she relied on estimates from the five contracted vaccine makers for the U.S. market — MedImmune, a unit of AstraZeneca, Sanofi-Aventis, Australia’s CSL, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis.

“I think we certainly had hoped that their predictions on this would be correct,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Friday.

“I think it’s accurate to say the president has been and is frustrated with ensuring that this vaccine is delivered on time and won’t be satisfied until those that want to be vaccinated from H1N1 have the opportunity through the vaccine to do so,” Gibbs told reporters in a briefing.

Two senators — Susan Collins and Joseph Lieberman — have asked Sebelius to explain why the projections were so far off.

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Delaware (Reuters) – President Barack Obama saw first hand the human cost of the Afghanistan war as he welcomed home on Thursday 18 soldiers and Drug Enforcement Administration agents killed in Afghanistan this week.

Obama, flying in his Marine One presidential helicopter, landed shortly after midnight in Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, home of the United States’ largest military mortuary and main point of entry for U.S. service members killed abroad.

Minutes earlier, an Air Force C-17 transport aircraft landed in the base, carrying the bodies of eight Army soldiers killed by a roadside bomb and seven soldiers and three DEA agents killed in a helicopter crash, according to the military.

Obama went into a meeting with families of the killed soldiers and agents in a chapel on the base, military officials said.

Later, a military chaplain will accompany Obama and other officials onboard and say a prayer over each flag-draped casket before it is transferred out of the aircraft, the officials said.

Six service members will carry each casket. Most of the event was closed to media and journalists will be allowed to see the transfer of only one casket, bearing the body of Sergeant Dale Griffin of Indiana.

The previously unannounced trip, Obama’s first visit to the Dover base as president, comes as he weighs whether to send more troops to Afghanistan to fight an insurgency that has reached its fiercest level in eight years.

, Oct 29 (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama saw first hand the human cost of the Afghanistan war on Thursday as he saluted the flag-draped caskets of 18 soldiers and Drug Enforcement Administration agents killed in Afghanistan this week. After a midnight flight in his Marine One presidential helicopter, Obama landed in Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, home of the largest U.S. military mortuary and main point of entry for service members killed abroad. The previously unannounced visit came as Obama weighs whether to send more troops to Afghanistan to fight an insurgency that has reached its fiercest level in eight years. Minutes before Obama’s arrival, an Air Force C-17 transport aircraft landed in the base, carrying the bodies of eight Army soldiers killed by a roadside bomb and seven soldiers and three DEA agents killed in a helicopter crash. A military chaplain accompanied Obama and other officials onboard and said a prayer over each casket before it was transferred out of the aircraft, military officials said. Most of the event was closed to media and journalists were only allowed to see the transfer of the last casket. In cold and blustery weather, Obama marched briskly in step with four officers to the aircraft. Attorney General Eric Holder, DEA Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart and two other officials walked behind in a second rank. They marched up the ramp, out of sight of the media. After a few moments they walked back down the ramp and stood in a line under the tail of the C-17. Obama stood at attention and saluted as six soldiers carried the casket, bearing the body of Sergeant Dale Griffin of Indiana, off the plane and loaded it onto a waiting van. Earlier, Obama met with families of the killed soldiers and agents in a chapel on the base, the officials said. It was Obama’s first visit to the base as president and he was due to fly back to Washington before dawn. DEADLIEST MONTH With at least 53 killed, October has been the deadliest month for U.S. forces in the unpopular eight-year war Obama inherited from his predecessor, George W. Bush. Polls show Americans increasingly weary of the war, which analysts say will likely help define Obama’s presidency. There is skepticism, including among his fellow Democrats who control the U.S. Congress, over sending more troops. Obama has held a series of meetings with his war cabinet to review the new Afghan strategy he put in place in March and to consider a request by his top military commander in the field, General Stanley McChrystal, for 40,000 more troops to combat a resurgent Taliban. He is set to meet again on Friday with Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the heads of the military services, the White House said. Obama’s spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said on Tuesday the decision-making process was "probably getting to the end" and a final decision could be expected in the coming weeks. MEDIA BAN RELAXED Critics, particularly among opposition Republicans, accuse Obama of being overly cautious and indecisive, but the White House has said a decision of such magnitude requires careful consideration. The process has been complicated by an Afghan presidential election in August marred by widespread fraud in favor of incumbent president Hamid Karzai. A second round is due to be held on Nov. 7. Underlining the fragility of the security situation even in the capital, Kabul, Taliban militants stormed a guest-house in Kabul on Wednesday and killed five U.N. foreign staff. About two-thirds of the 100,000 NATO-led forces are U.S. troops. More than 900 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. Earlier this year, the Pentagon relaxed its ban on media coverage of returning U.S. war dead by allowing families to decide whether to allow photos and television footage of the flag-draped coffins of their loved ones.The ban had been imposed since the days of the 1991 Gulf War with some exceptions, including the return of Navy seamen killed during the attack on the USS Cole in October 2000. Bush imposed a stricter ban during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, sparking criticism the federal government was hiding the human cost of its military operations. (Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

, Oct 29 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama landed at a U.S. military base early on Thursday to meet the plane bringing home the bodies of 18 American soldiers and Drug Enforcement Administration agents killed in Afghanistan this week. The previously unannounced late-night trip comes as Obama weighs whether to send more troops to Afghanistan to fight an insurgency that has reached its fiercest level in eight years. This month has been the deadliest for U.S. forces since the start of the war eight years ago. Obama, flying in his Marine One presidential helicopter, landed shortly after midnight (0400 GMT) in Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, home of the United States’ largest military mortuary and main point of entry for U.S. service members killed abroad. Minutes earlier, an Air Force C-17 transport aircraft landed in the base, carrying the bodies of eight Army soldiers killed by a roadside bomb and seven soldiers and three DEA agents killed in a helicopter crash, according to the military. It was the first time Obama has made the trip as president to Dover, where as the caskets are unloaded from the transport plane, he will see first hand the human cost of the unpopular war he inherited from his predecessor, George W. Bush, and which analysts say will likely help define his presidency. Obama traveled with only a small media pool to Dover, and journalists accompanying him were restricted from reporting on the trip until his helicopter had taken off from the White House. Polls show Americans increasingly weary of the war and there is skepticism, including among Obama’s fellow Democrats who control the U.S. Congress, over sending more troops. Obama has held a series of meetings with his war Cabinet to review the new Afghan strategy he put in place in March and to consider a request by his top military commander in the field, General Stanley McChrystal, for 40,000 more troops to combat a resurgent Taliban. He is set to meet again on Friday with Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the heads of the military services, the White House said. Obama’s spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said on Tuesday the decision-making process was "probably getting to the end" and a final decision could be expected in the coming weeks. MEDIA BAN RELAXED Critics, particularly among opposition Republicans, accuse Obama of being overly cautious and indecisive, but the White House has said a decision of such magnitude requires careful consideration. The process has been complicated by an Afghan presidential election in August marred by widespread fraud in favor of incumbent president Hamid Karzai. A second round is due to be held on Nov. 7. Underlining the fragility of the security situation even in the capital, Kabul, Taliban militants stormed a guest-house in Kabul on Wednesday and killed five U.N. foreign staff. About two-thirds of the 100,000 NATO-led forces are U.S. troops. More than 900 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. Earlier this year, the Pentagon relaxed its ban on media coverage of returning U.S. war dead by allowing families to decide whether to allow photos and television footage of the flag-draped coffins of their loved ones.The ban had been imposed since the days of the 1991 Gulf War with some exceptions, including the return of Navy seamen killed during the attack on the USS Cole in October 2000. Bush imposed a stricter ban during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, sparking criticism the federal government was hiding the human cost of its military operations. (Editing by Peter Cooney)

WASHINGTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama flew to a U.S. military base on Wednesday night to meet the plane bringing home the bodies of 18 American soldiers and Drug Enforcement Administration agents killed in Afghanistan this week. The previously unannounced late-night trip comes as Obama weighs whether to send more troops to Afghanistan to fight an insurgency that has reached its fiercest level in eight years. This month has been the deadliest for U.S. forces since the start of the war eight years ago. Obama took off from the south lawn of the White House in his Marine One presidential helicopter shortly before midnight (0400 GMT on Thursday) and was headed to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, home of the United States’ largest military mortuary and main point of entry for U.S. service members killed abroad. It will be the first time as president he has made the trip to Dover, where as the caskets are unloaded from the transport plane, he will see first hand the human cost of the unpopular war he inherited from his predecessor, George W. Bush, and which analysts say will likely help define his presidency. Obama traveled with only a small media pool to Dover, and journalists accompanying him were restricted from reporting on the trip until his helicopter had taken off from the White House. Polls show Americans increasingly weary of the war and there is skepticism, including among Obama’s fellow Democrats who control the U.S. Congress, over sending more troops. The bodies due to arrive in Dover early on Thursday were those of eight Army soldiers killed by a roadside bomb and seven soldiers and three DEA agents killed in a helicopter crash, the military said. Obama has held a series of meetings with his war Cabinet to review the new Afghan strategy he put in place in March and to consider a request by his top military commander in the field, General Stanley McChrystal, for 40,000 more troops to combat a resurgent Taliban. He is set to meet again on Friday with Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the heads of the military services, the White House said. Obama’s spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said on Tuesday the decision-making process was "probably getting to the end" and a final decision could be expected in the coming weeks. MEDIA BAN RELAXED Critics, particularly among opposition Republicans, accuse Obama of being overly cautious and indecisive, but the White House has said a decision of such magnitude requires careful consideration. The process has been complicated by an Afghan presidential election in August marred by widespread fraud in favor of incumbent president Hamid Karzai. A second round is due to be held on Nov. 7. Underlining the fragility of the security situation even in the capital, Kabul, Taliban militants stormed a guest-house in Kabul on Wednesday and killed five U.N. foreign staff. About two-thirds of the 100,000 NATO-led forces are U.S. troops. More than 900 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. Earlier this year, the Pentagon relaxed its ban on media coverage of returning U.S. war dead by allowing families to decide whether to allow photos and television footage of the flag-draped coffins of their loved ones.The ban had been imposed since the days of the 1991 Gulf War with some exceptions, including the return of Navy seamen killed during the attack on the USS Cole in October 2000. Bush imposed a stricter ban during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, sparking criticism the federal government was hiding the human cost of its military operations. (Editing by Peter Cooney)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will hold talks on Thursday with officials of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a powerful business lobby that has sparred with him on issues from taxes and climate change to healthcare.

The White House has billed the event as an opportunity for Obama to meet small business owners to discuss his healthcare overhaul and his proposals to improve small business access to credit to boost job creation.

A White House official said members of the Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business had been invited to the meeting.

The talks are significant given the rising tensions between the White House and the Chamber on many of Obama’s signature domestic issues. Sensitive to the recent history, the chamber declined any comment ahead of Wednesday’s talks and referred queries to the White House.

“While we have had disagreements on some issues like regulatory reform and energy. We look forward to continuing to work with the Chamber on the many issues we agree on, including the importance of creating jobs and opportunities for small businesses,” said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

The meeting was expected to cover Obama’s plan to help small business and his drive for healthcare reform.

Earlier this month, Obama pulled no punches when he attacked the Chamber for opposing his plans for a new consumer protection agency, saying it was spending millions of dollars on false advertising “to kill it.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – One of the more intriguing features of U.S. President Barack Obama’s painstaking review of his strategy in Afghanistan is the widespread coverage that has been given to his vice president’s dissenting views.

Anyone who reads newspapers, blogs or watches television knows that Joe Biden is wary of sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, as recommended by the top military commander there, and wants to narrow the U.S. strategy to focus more on pursuing al Qaeda than first defeating a resurgent Taliban.

In fact, Biden has yet to utter a single word in public on the issue, and what Americans know about his thinking is based solely on a stream of anonymous leaks.

Like other senior administration officials, including national security adviser Jim Jones and Obama’s special envoy to the region, Richard Holbrooke, Biden is keeping quiet while Obama ponders a decision that could define his presidency.

With Americans increasingly weary of the 8-year-old war in Afghanistan, skeptics of Biden’s skepticism have asked why his views are being given such a public airing and are not being to confined to the White House situation room, where Obama held another in a series of meetings on Afghanistan on Thursday.

Analysts say that whoever is leaking Biden’s views is doing so with tacit permission from a White House keen to show that Obama is debating a wide range of views and is not simply going to rubber-stamp the military’s troop request.

“I think the White House wants it out in this way. It could be they are trying to make it clear to people … that they will have heard all sides, and that the Biden point of view will have been given serious consideration by Obama even if he chooses something different, said Thomas Schwartz, a professor of history at Vanderbilt University.