Obama meets with Karzai in Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan, July 20 (UPI) -- Presumptive Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama met with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai Sunday in Kabul, officials said.

The meeting between the U.S. senator from Illinois and the Afghan leader came on the first leg of Obama's tour to the Middle East and Europe. Shortly after the meeting with Karzai, Obama left Afghanistan to continue his journey, CNN reported.

Earlier in the day, he shared breakfast in the mess hall of an American military base in Kabul as he prepared to meet Karzai, whose policies he has criticized in the past.

Obama arrived in eastern Afghanistan Saturday with two other U.S. senators, Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., both of whom have been mentioned as his possible running mates. The three received a briefing from Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser, commanding general of the coalition's eastern command, at Bagram Air Base, Obama's campaign said.

Meanwhile, Obama's likely Republican presidential opponent, U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., criticized him for going to Afghanistan with his anti-terrorism policies already decided.

"In a time of war, the commander in chief's job doesn't get a learning curve," McCain said Saturday in a radio address.