By: E&P Staff In case you ever wondered what it would be like to travel with the President of the United States, stop for re-fueling in Ireland on the way to India, and then find out you would be stopping first in war-torn Afghanistan...here is a transcript of how it went down on Air Force One earlier today.
White House insiders Scott McClellan, Stephen Hadley and Joe Hagin do the honors.
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MR. HADLEY: Terry, I told you if there was a schedule change, you'd be the first to know; you'd be second. We're going to go to Afghanistan.
Q Now?
MR. McCLELLAN:Now. That's what I came back here for. Joe is with me, but we're going to be stopping in Afghanistan.That is where we are headed right now. We will be landing at Bagram Air Force Base, and then when we get there, we will be going to Kabul, to the presidential palace, where the President and President Karzai will participate in a meeting. Following that, there's going to be an expanded meeting with delegations from both countries. It's a working lunch....
Q What's the total time on the ground?
MR. McCLELLAN:About four hours, is that correct.
MR. HAGIN: I think it's four, but I will check.
MR. McCLELLAN:Joe will tell us in just a second. This is something that initially, and, Joe, correct me if I'm wrong, but Joe brought this to the President and Andy Card about eight weeks ago or so, the idea of going to Afghanistan while we were headed to India and Pakistan. And for about the last month, Joe and a number of other people have been quietly working to put all the details and logistics together for this trip.
Is there anything to add to that, Joe?
MR. HAGIN: No, that's about it.
Q Can we file this now?
MR. McCLELLAN:No, not until we land.
MR. HAGIN: Embargoed until we land.
Q What's the objective?
MR. McCLELLAN:Well, this will be the President's first visit to Afghanistan. He's looking forward to it. And Afghanistan is a good friend and ally. And we have very strong relations with the government in Afghanistan, and the objective is to continue to build upon the strong relationship that we have with Afghanistan, and also to show our strong support for a young and emerging democracy.
Q The security risk, how serious --
MR. McCLELLAN:There are security precautions that are taken, and we're confident in the security precautions that have been taken. One of those was not informing you of the trip until now.
Q Big surprise.
MR. McCLELLAN:Did you figure out how many hours?
MR. HAGIN: It's about five hours.
MR. McCLELLAN:About five hours on the ground.
Q We're going to hear him speak only to the troops?
MR. McCLELLAN:Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot. After the working lunch with President Karzai and the delegations they will participate in a press availability. I expect it will be similar to other formats, where they'll each take a couple of questions.
Q How long is the flight? Do you know what time --
MR. McCLELLAN:It's about a seven hour flight there, from whenever we took off, about 8:45 p.m. or so.
MR. HAGIN: Land at 12:35 p.m. arrival, roughly.
MR. McCLELLAN:Afghanistan time.
Q Can we do a wire call just to -- on an embargoed basis?
MR. McCLELLAN:No, not until we land.As soon as we land you can call it in.
Q I'm not sure how my phone is going to work.
MR. HAGIN: It should work.
MR. McCLELLAN:It's embargoed until we touch down, but when we touch down, you're free to call it in.
MR. HAGIN: If your phones aren't working, we'll lend you a phone.
Q Has another American President been to Afghanistan?
MR. McCLELLAN:I'll have to check that.
MR. HAGIN: We'll have to do a little research on that....
MR. McCLELLAN:All right, enjoy your breakfast.
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