surprise visit to our troops there at bagram air base. that does it for us. shannon green is up next. breaking news out of afghanistan, president obama touching down at bagram airfield a short time ago for a surprise visit with u.s. troops on this memorial day weekend. the president is there for a very quick visit with the servicemen and women serving in the closing months of the afghanistan war. it all comes as mr. obama's struggling to secure an agreement regarding the number of u.s. troops to remain in afghanistan after 2014, and as he's facing a growing scandal here at home over the treatment of our veterans at v.a. hospitals across the nation. we're live at the white house with details. hi, wendall. >> reporter: hi, shannon. the president wanted to address

the troops and express his gratitude. this is his fourth visit here since taking office. folks have gotten pretty good at sneaking him out of the white house, something they did shortly before midnight last night with something they say didn't really look like a presidential motorcade. mr. obama will not meet with outgoing afghan president hamid karzai who has backed out of an agreement to keep a limited number of u.s. servicemen and women in afghanistan after the end of the year as trainers and for counterterrorism missions. the folks here say that's important to keep the taliban from regaining control. afghanistan is holding a runoff election on june 14th, the front runner, abdullah abdullah has promised to honor the agreement. singer brad paisley flew over on air force one. he's entertaining the troops right now while mr. obama getting a briefing from u.s. commanders and visits wounded servicemen and women in the hospital. the president will make remarks to troops afterwards. of course the cloud over this visit is the v.a.'s scandal over facilities that hid the long times that some veterans were waiting for medical care.

the president awaiting a report from v.a. secretary eric shinseki this week on how widespread the problem is. he's trying to keep shinseki on the job though a number of republicans and even some democrats are demanding the secretary step down. the administration says it will allow some vets to get care at private hospitals in an effort to ease the pressure on the v.a.'s system which added 2 million vets over the past decade. derek bennett says that's a no-brainer. >> i think it's going to be extremely helpful, but it's also a step that could have been put in place years ago. the idea of a public-private partnership in providing, you know, veterans or anyone really the access to private health care that is paid for by the government when the capacity isn't there and the v.a. is a no-brainer. >> reporter: in a statement on saturday secretary shinseki said the v.a. is also enhancing the capacity of some clinics so that veterans can get their care sooner. once again, the president at

bagram air base in afghanistan. >> wendell, thank you for keeping us up to date. wendell mentioned the commander in chief is making that surprise trip to thank the troops with no bilateral security agreement with afghanistan in place. and we're told a meeting with the current afghan president hamid karzai does not appear to be on the agenda. fox news analyst joins us live now. i want your reaction to the surprise trip and sort of the state of where things stand in afghanistan right now. >> reporter: well, i think it's very important that the president go and rally behind the troops. they fought long and hard in the afghan and iraq wars. they're coming home to disappointment to say the least special with the health care issues. it's important the president really show the flag. i think that's a good thing he's done. i also think he's not going to meet with hamid karzai and that's a good thing. why? we are tired of supporting leaders who don't like us in countries that don't matter. and afghanistan under the corrupt leadership of hamid

karzai has been exactly that. even though there are going to be elections next month and they're probably going to elect a very good guy to run afghanistan next, frankly it's a little too late. >> all right. kt, so what do we know now as we're looking forward to these elections and to figuring out what our role will be moving forward without that agreement in place? >> reporter: well, right now -- you know, again, i say in love and wartiming is everything. well, in war timing is everything. if the election that we're having right now if afghanistan had that election five years ago in 2009 and elected one of these guys, maybe we'd be in a very different place. but we're not there. we have had ten years of incompetent and corrupt leadership like karzai. we don't have an agreement for what happens going forward. and even though an agreement is likely to be signed with a new government to leave anywhere between 5,000 and 10,000 american troops there, i've got a question and say, wait a minute, we couldn't stabilize that country with 100,000 american troops? are we really going to be able

to stabilize it with 5,000 or 10,000 american troops? i don't think so. so i've come to the conclusion we've given it our best effort, our military people particularly have fought and bled and died for our country and the country just didn't take advantage of it. afghanistan. and so frankly time to come home. >> kt, because you have expertise in so many of these areas and issues overseas, i want to ask you to hold on because we want to get your reaction to the breaking news out of ukraine. polls set to close this hour in that nation's presidential election. the balloting took place despite weeks of violence and bloodshed in the eastern part of the country. seems like today's vote how it went depended in large part of where voters lived. so we're going to go live to ukraine with more. >> reporter: oh, excuse me. yes, shannon, we have indication coming from the polling stations

here in this country that the front runner in the balloting all along has in fact been seen as the winner in early exit polls. his name is petrol poreshenko. he's a billionaire industrialist in this country and a champion of the protesters who fought for democracy earlier in this year. and in fact led to this vote. and that in fact got brought down the past regime favorable to moscow. he claims that he can deal with vladimir putin directly. and he also claims that he can deal with the situation. and there are a lot of problems to deal with in this situation right now. militants really showed their stuff today in this region. they staged a heavily armed gathering not far from where we are both attacking polling stations and blocking voters

across this country -- this region in the city of donetsk for example where we are right now with a population of 1 million, not a single person cast a ballot. they want to derail this election. and across the region 20% of the election districts were running. that was all. we went to one town in one of those election districts that were operating a bit more friendly but people were voting there. also the government officials there were preparing for the worst right around the corner from the polling station was a pro-kiev militia getting ready for any problems from rebel militants that might attack that city, that polling station. that didn't happen. but late word we are getting from there, but there were other attacks. again, shannon, the late word we were just tracking when you came to me on the air is that in fact petro -- who has been the front runner in this campaign for many months now looks to be according

to broadcasters with the exit poll to be taking over the job as president. and, again, he will have his hands full dealing with what some people call a civil war as well as an economy in tatters and corruption. again, the breaking news exit polls according to broadcaste broadcasters -- will be the next president of ukraine. but the breaking news militant still very much in control here in the eastern part of this country. back to you. >> mike, thank you so much. live in eastern ukraine. we are hearing the same thing coming across the associated press wires as well. let's go back to fox news analyst kt mcfarland for a lot more on this closely watched election in ukraine. kt, it sounds like the polls are indicating he'll be the outright winner possibly not in need of a runoff which would have come in mid-june. tell us what we need to know about him, how he will be able to deal with putin or not, what his relationship is with the west. what do we know? >> reporter: okay.

he's called the candy king. that's how he's made his billions is in chocolates and candy. so he has to be a sweet guy to cut the deal he's got to cut to go forward. really to me the winner of all this is putin because he now has domination and more or less operational control over eastern ukraine. that's where all the goodies are. eastern ukraine is where the oil, natural gas, coal, energy industry is, military factories are, that's what russia wants out of this. and they got what they've wanted. these election results have shown. the people in eastern ukraine haven't gone to the poll. what's going to happen? the new guy will come in, he'll form a government and he'll have to immediately find a way to avoid a civil war that would be really provoked by russia. he's got to make peace with russia. how is he likely to do that? by letting the region in eastern ukraine be more loosely affiliated and frankly go under the domination of russia. so the reason putin is winning this is because any other country in the region is

thinking if i want to step up to putin, i'm going to go with the west, i don't want to go to russia. they're going to realize what they face is potential civil war, economic strife, high energy prices which russia controls. >> okay. so we're hearing a lot from putin and some saying he's sending mixed messages about his intentions in that region with crimea and beyond. he said that any allegations that he's trying to reconstruct the soviet union are totally inaccurate. he's also raising concerns about ukraine potentially down the road at some point joining nato. what do you think he will do to stop that from happening if it becomes a reality? >> reporter: i don't think -- it's not ever going to happen. ukraine is not about to join nato, why? because nato isn't going to want them because they don't even have a secure border. and secondly because russia, i think, is aiming to dismember nato. not because it's going to move tanks, but there's something called article 5 in the nato treaty, shan non. it says an armed attack by any

nato member will meet all of them. but doesn't say what happens if there's an armed attack. putin has shown if you send in special forces that don't wear russian insignia which are agents, stir up trouble, he's shown he can use cyber attacks, high energy prices to get what he wants in the region. you don't have to have an armed attack against anybody. what it will show is nato isn't the strong country -- the strong alliance of nations it used to be because germany is much more interested in trade with russia than it really is in trade with ukraine. >> kt, what do you make of what we've heard all along what greg confirmed on the ground? in the eastern part of ukraine today in this vote there were places where there was no polling place. and those who had a polling place there were no voters, there were pro-russian separatists who showed up there. do you think there will be those even within ukraine who will question the validity of this election knowing how it played out, at least in the eastern part of the country from what we're hearing? >> reporter: yeah. i mean, there will be questions

about it, but the fact of the matter is history moves on and the new leader will quickly form a new government. they'll try to make some kind of accommodation with russia. where do people in eastern ukraine allowed to vote? probably not. but that was going to happen anyway. the next step will be the ukraine parliament will probably agree to some kind of referendum that allows a more loose affiliation of the different states in ukraine. and at that point those states in eastern ukraine with the russians looking over their shoulders will probably vote to have a separate relationship from ukraine. sort of like what crimea did a few months ago. so russia gets what it wants out of this, which is the part of ukraine that matters to them. and i think russia looks at this as a tactical advantage because strategically they're not just looking to dismember nato, they're now looking to have an alliance with china, which hasn't happened in 45 years. and it's a china-russia alliance and an anti-american alliance. >> kt, thank you for doing double duty with us today. we appreciate it.

good to see you. >> happy memorial day to all. >> as well to you and your family. and you have many who have served. we thank you as well. >> thank you. we're still awaiting remarks from the president on a surprise troip afghanistan to see the troops. we'll bring his remarks live when they happen. you see brad paisley entertaining troops and singing with them. also coming up, a u.s. marine languishing in a mexican jail. we'll talk about his efforts to free him and the trips she made to the border. you can see exactly what happened there. that's coming up. and in southern california a community grieving and struggling to come to terms after a series of deadly attacks. dominic is live in santa barbara. >> reporter: shannon, president obama is sending his condolences to the victims and friends and families of those who died here in the isla vista massacre. also the authorities finalizing notifications to next of kin. the details coming up soon, shannon. >> thank you, dominic. and rolling thunder roaring

through washington, d.c. to pay homage to our servicemen and women. peter is with the group. >> reporter: shannon, as many americans across the country get ready to figure out what they're going to grill at a backyard barbecue this memorial day weekend, there are hundreds of thousands of others here in washington for a very special, very loud salute to american veterans. i will have the sights and sounds of rolling thunder in just a few minutes. ♪

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visit with the troops. paisley's a big support of the military having previously performed at the white house for the troops and their families. we are still waiting for the president's remarks. we will bring you those live when it happens. turning now to southern california where students and families in the santa barbara area are wrestling with shock and grief after what police are calling "the work of a madman." turns out the suspect, 22-year-old elliot rodger, was no stranger to authorities. we're live in santa barbara with more. hello, dominic. >> reporter: hello, shannon. that surprise and shock and grief also being shared by the white house issuing a statement in the past hour or so from president obama and his wife, michelle. reading this exactly, the president and the first lady's thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends who have lost loved ones as a result of the horrific shooting." and here today that is most certainly being felt in what is a very, very quiet sunday.

yes, you'd expect a sunday morning to be slow, but there's a lot of people staying at home particularly after the vigil that we had last night. it has been the fact that elliot rodger committed a massacre that no one here ever expected. and that's what police are saying today. they've been talking about really his mental state. he was a sufferer of described as high functioning aspberger syndrome. >> the fact that he had been and was continuing to be seen by a variety of different health care professionals, but it's very, very apparent that he was severely mentally disturbed. >> reporter: let me just clarify, sorry, that was bill brown, the sheriff from here in isla vista. my apologies for that. the surveillance video being made available now of the moment

that rodger's accused of going into a deli and opening fire on the customers inside there. you can see people throwing themselves to the ground. the left of the screen you actually see one of the fridges glass explode as shots go through that. very, very terrifying moment. now, the sheriff's department is still notifying the next of kin of the three victims whose identity has not been released to the public. that should happen during the course of today. no scheduled media briefings so far. so we're not exactly sure what the authorities or when the authorities are going to tell us anything more. but the investigation is now extraordinarily involved. there's ten different crime scenes, shannon, and of course working out the background to elliot rodger's on what may have led him to do this. the manifesto gives us an awful lot of clues, but still much to piece together. back to you, shannon. >> thank you very much. we are still awaiting remarks from the president on a surprise visit to our troops in

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as the president makes a surprise visit to afghanistan, back home the veterans affairs scandal is casting a shadow over the administration. white house deputy national security advisor ben rhodes said the scandal did not "factor into the planning of this trip." but he said while in afghanistan the president would stress the underlying general message of support for our troops and

veterans. we have the very latest on the administration's position as it plays out. hi, steve. >> hi, shannon. there's support from both sides of the aisle from the obama administration's move to allow veterans to get private medical care. all this amid mounting accusations patients were left without needed care at veterans hospitals. the first report coming from the facility in phoenix where as many as 40 patients allegedly died while waiting for treatment. congressman jeff miller of florida, chairman of the house veterans affairs committee, supports the idea of allowing some veterans to get care at private hospitals. meantime, there are continued calls for the resignation of veterans affairs secretary eric shinseki, a vietnam veteran and retired four-star general. but miller says this is not simply an issue of leadership at the top of the v.a. >> this is much larger than the secretary of the department of veterans affairs. >> like what? >> well, you've got an entrenched bureaucracy that exists out there that is not held accountable, that is

shooting for goals, goals that are not helping the veteran. the person that is supposed to be served is not the bureaucrat, it's the veteran. >> and miller wanders why it took song so long for the obama administration to take this action establishing a kind of private care safety valve for some veterans. inspector general says there are 26 v.a. facilities under investigation for allegedly falsifying appointment records to cover up delays in care. but some are not satisfied with that i.g. report probe and want it to go further. senator richard blumenthal spoke. >> i urge secretary shinseki privately and in fact publicly to request and involve the department of justice. these are allegations, but there's evidence to support them. we're not rushing to judgment. but the department of justice can convene a grand jury if necessary. the i.g. cannot. >> the v.a. of course has been struggling to keep up with an

influx of patients from the wars in iraq and afghanistan, shannon. >> steve, thank you very much. let's bring in fox news military analyst general tom mcinerny on the scandal and the surprise trip to after dpan stan. general, thanks for coming in today. >> thanks for having me, shannon. >> let's talk about what steve was reporting on. the story continues to grow. and just about everybody involved from the whistleblowers on down saying this is something that's been going on for years. numerous politicians have promised to change it, fix it, keep an eye on it and it seems like it's only gotten worse. >> exactly, shannon. that's the disturbing thing. unfortunately general shinseki who has had a brilliant career but has been leader for the last six years of veterans administration, he's got to go. it's not necessarily that he may or may not have done anything wrong. he didn't fix the problem. that's what we put leaders in, he was chief of staff of the army, he's been chief of large organizations, that's a symbol. now you've got to get the right person in to fix him in. it's very simple.

he should say whoever comes in if you aren't taken care of in two weeks, you get a voucher to go to the commercial medical system. it's that simple, shannon. let's not complicate it. they spent $500 million on furniture for the v.a. they can do vouchers. >> uh-huh. and we saw that in a statement that came out over the weekend from the v.a. that when they can't get people in to specific v.a. facilities they will go to non-v.a. facilities, which leads us right back to this is a government-run medical system that is now saying we need the help of the private sector. there are many who have said over the years the v.a. should be privatized. what do you make of that? do you think it would work? >> i think the v.a. should be privatized. that's my personal opinion. i'm not an expert in that area, but i know people that are and had a former classmate at west point, harry walters, who was the secretary of the v.a., he believes it should be privatized. he's done a study on it. there's a lot of things we need to get the private sector

involved with. >> these are our veterans we're talking about. including yourself, i mean, people who have served this country and sacrificed a lot, do you think there will be an opportunity here to channel, to harness that outrage by americans and those across any party affiliation to actually funnel it into action at this point? >> i hope there is. there's a bill that came out of the house three pages, those are the kind of bills that people ought to be able to read. and it moves in that direction. so that's a start. let's see if senator reid passes that bill when they come back from recess. but that will be the indication if in fact they can do that. >> if they can work together on anything, we would hope it would be this. let's talk about the president's surprise visit to afghanistan on this memorial day weekend. the white house says his primary function there is he wants to see these troops face-to-face and to thank them. what does it mean to any person who is serving, at home or

abroad, to have the commander in chief show up and say thank you? >> it means a lot. and i applaud the president for doing it. i give him kudos for it. it's very important to memorize -- to memorialize those people who have given their life for the service of this nation and be on the front lines. i'm sure he's going to do other things and maybe see if he can get a status force of agreement with karzai. i do not think he will. i think he'll get an opportunity to maybe have outreach with two members that are running to replace karzai. but his presence over there is a significant issue. now, it's not the first time presidents that are in trouble back home have gone abroad. president nixon did it a great deal during his -- regardless of the party, that's a little bit of it. but i really think his intention is to pay tribute to those people in the combat zone that are fighting today and giving their lives and to do that. so i commend them for that. >> and quickly, you mentioned

that he may have an opportunity just by his mere presence being there to communicate to those who may succeed hamid karzai about the importance of getting this agreement done. do you think his presence there will move that forward? >> i hope it does. he has not paid a lot of attention hands-on leadership with trying to get that status of force agreement. that's why he didn't get it in iraq. he wanted to get out of iraq. let's hope he's able to put some hands on there and talk to people and let them know that we think that there should be an opportunity to have a follow on force, a small one but a residual force. >> general, thank you for your service and thank you for coming in today. >> thank you, shannon. honoring our troops on memorial day weekend and remembering those who gave all, president obama is set to speak to our u.s. troops, thousands of them there in afghanistan. we're expecting remarks soon. we'll bring those live as soon as they start. [ female announcer ] there's a gap out there. that's keeping you from the healthcare you deserve. at humana, we believe if healthcare changes, if it becomes simpler...

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airfield in a surprise visit to afghanistan. he slipped quietly out of the white house and flew 13 hours for a visit with the troops. thousands of men and women serving there. the president is set to make remarks to the troops shortly. and we will bring you those as soon as they happen. we'll take you there live. on this memorial day weekend a u.s. sergeant is stuck in a mexican jail wondering about his fate. two months ago he accidentally drove across the border into mexico with three guns in his vehicle. the weapons were legal in the u.s., but illegal for him to take them into mexico. his defense attorney says he's facing gun charges that could earn him a 20-year jail sentence. his first court hearing is scheduled for next wednesday. this morning his mother said the mexican legal process is taking too long. >> i don't understand why his case wasn't expedited immediately and to be 60 days out from the actual event and for the border officials to woefully delay their statement 60 days out, i'm outraged.

>> we've been trying to help win his freedom. she sat down with us earlier to talk about her recent trip to show us what she saw at the border and where she checked things out firsthand. >> reporter: when i first heard the story, shannon, i thought, yeah, right, i thought it was ridiculous. i didn't believe it. so then we went down there and we actually went to where he was. we drove the exact same path. and what it is is that when you leave the parking lot on the u.s. side we had a car parked and you want to head back to san diego. he'd been in mexico for the day. so he didn't want to go back to mexico. if you leave the parking lot, san diego's on your left. so naturally you want to turn to your left. so he turned to his first left and the road zooms down and around and right into mexico. and there are all these cement barriers that once you get into that ramp you are in mexico. 100 yards later down and below. so you make that bad turn, you're in mexico. no questions asked. no options. now, there was a sign, but the

first sign that he would have seen would be when he drove out of the parking lot and looking at oncoming not likely looking up to a sign a little behind him and the other sign had graffiti on it and one was faded. so i would have made the same mistake. my intuition would have had me making that turn. even when seeing the sign it didn't make sense. >> meantime now weeks he's been languishing down there. this is a long time. his mother had been trying to sound the alarm. she's talked with you. you've tried to get more information and bring public awareness to this. are we hearing anything from the administration, anyone that we know is taking action to help this marine? >> i'm hearing nothing. if they're doing some back door stuff, great, all power to them. but i'm hearing nothing. the family is doing nothing. and the system down there is so bizarre. you're a lawyer, if this were in the united states no prosecutor would charge to begin with. if some prosecutor had with a mistake, it would have been dismissed. he's just languishing in sort of never-never land. i don't know how he's going to get out. but the state department if they're doing something, we

don't know about it other than they were trying to help us get into the prison. but we got such a runaround from the prison warden and so many stories told they clearly didn't want us talking to him. he wanted to talk to us, but they didn't want him talking to us. >> his mom has been able to talk to him by phone. how is she feeling about this process and how he's doing, is he being cared for? >> the first prison was much worse. this is a cleaner, nicer prison. he's alone. he's in segregation in part because they thought he was going to harm himself. this is a marine who don't forget served two tours in afghanistan for us. his military vehicle had been hit by ied. he has ptsd. he actually left florida in the early part of the year to go to the v.a. in san diego. he went there on march 14th. they did an intake and two weeks later he goes to tijuana for the day and this happens to him. so this is that looking for help. now, the mother i think feels better because now she's getting some attention because i think she feels now that she has some

help, but imagine enormously frustrating. here's the bigger issue. think of all the americans that are in those prisons in mexico who don't have mothers who can do this and who can gather up the support and put the attention on it. >> we've heard the 911 call. i mean, there's evidence he felt like he made a mistake, he didn't know where he was, he was confused. >> i'm at the border of mexico right now and my problem is i crossed the border by accident and i have three guns in my truck and they're trying to possess -- they're trying to take my guns from me. >> so you're in mexico? >> yeah -- >> there's nothing i can help you with then, sir. i do apologize. you're not on american soil anymore. i can't really help you. >> i don't know if i'm really -- i'm not sure if i crossed yet. >> does any of that not play with the mexican authorities? do they think this is part of a bigger scheme or that he's not telling the truth? how could you think all of those things -- >> they're not listening to it. that's the whole problem.

if anyone listened to this case he or she would reach the same conclusion. they haven't even listened to this tape. and it's inescapable that it was a mistake. you hear the 911 call where he says i accidentally came in here. that's without any lawyers or anything. that's just what he says right there on the spot. and it's also significant he's not charged with smuggling because even the mexicans knew that he wasn't trying to smuggle weapons in. this was simple possession of weapons. weapons that we have the receipts for showing he lawfully possessed here in the united states. but you can't possess those in mexico. but if you are accidentally in mexico, he never intended to go to mexico, this was a -- and he's the one who told the border patrol about the gun. he said they're in the back of the car. they may have never found them, but he volunteered it. >> well, we're glad you and others are bringing light to it. hopefully more awareness will make a difference and this marine will be out soon. >> we don't want to leave him behind. >> never. >> thanks, shannon.

we're going to stay on that case. you're looking live now over in afghanistan where president obama's expected to speak just momentarily to the troops. he made a surprise visit in there you hear the fanfare playing as he now takes the stage. there are thousands there at bagram airfield in afghanistan. brad paisley's been playing for the troops, something he's enjoyed doing in the past. you see the president getting ready to speak to them as well. as u.s. forces are winding down their time there, president hamid karzai has not been willing to sign onto a deal to negotiate with the u.s. about our soldiers remaining -- our troops remaining there in afghanistan beyond this year. so there's some question about whether the president will be able to move that forward while he's there. we hear there are no plans for his meet with karzai while he is there, but possibly to meet with potential successors to karzai and discuss with them the need to get that done. the president there as commander in chief today. you can hear the welcome from we believe it's more than 30,000 troops who are gathered there.

he is now being introduced and will offer remarks on this memorial day weekend. the white house making it very clear that he is there to share his thanks for the troops. let's listen in. [ cheers and applause ] >> hello bagram! well, you know, i know it's a little late, but i was in the neighborhood and thought i'd stop by. first of all, i want everybody to give a huge round of applause to your commander general joe dunford. please give him an outstanding -- [ cheers and applause ] -- acknowledgment. i am grateful to him for his leadership of our coalition here in afghanistan. and for his lifetime of

distinguished service to the marine corps and to america. can everybody please give it up to brad paisley? [ cheers and applause ] i want to say this about brad. first of all, he's a great supporter of our troops, a great supporter of your families. two years ago we had him at the white house to perform for troops and military families during the fourth of july celebration. him coming here today was not easy. he had just started a tour. and he had to juggle a lot of stuff, and had to try to figure out how to explain it to people without explaining it to people. and his wife and two young sons and promotors and agents. and without going to details, this was a big sacrifice for him.

and he did it because he cares so deeply about you. so i'm so grateful to him. i want to make clear though, i will not be singing. oh, you really want me to sing? [ cheers and applause ] no, no, no. but i do want to just say to brad thank you so much for doing this. i want to acknowledge our outstanding ambassador jim cunningham who is here with his lovely wife. jim leads an incredible team of civilians at our amnesty and across this country they are also making sacrifices also away from their families, oftentimes themselves at risk as they serve. i know those of you in uniform couldn't do your jobs without these americans as your partners. so we salute the dedicated service of all the civilians who are here led by jim cunningham. give them a big round of applause.

[ cheers and applause ] now, i guess i also should mention that we got a few folks here as part of the tenth mountain division, upon the glory. we got the 455th air wing in the house. [ cheers and applause ] the task force mule skinners, task force thunder, task force rugged. to all of you, i'm here on a single mission, and that is to thank you for your extraordinary service. and thank you as your commander in chief because you inspire me, your willingness to serve, to step forward at a time of war

and say send me is the reason the united states stays strong and free. of all the honors that i have as serving as president, nothing matches serving as your commander in chief. but i'm also here representing 300 million americans who want to say thank you as well. i know sometimes when you're over here away from home, away from family, you may not truly absorb how much the folks back home are thinking about you. so i just want you to know when it comes to supporting you and your families, the american people stand united. we support you. we are proud of you. we stand in awe of your service.

and you can see it in american actions every single day. you see it in the kids across america who send you all those care packages and all those girl scout cookies. those were pretty popular, huh? you like those cookies, huh? all right. i'll bet you'll get i bet you'll get some more now. you see it in the neighbors and co-workers who volunteer to help your moms and dads and wives and husbands and sons and daughters, their sxool on their sports teams. you see it at the airports when you return safe. all the folks standing up applauding, lining up to welcome you home. you see it when the entire stadium gets to their feet to salute the troops in the stadium. i welcomed super bowl champion

seattle seahawks and -- listen, i'm a bears fan, but the one thing that i saw and i have seen in every sports team that comes to the white house is the work that they do visiting walter reed, bethesda, doing work with military families. in fact, to help announce their draft picks, the seahawks selected jeff baker, who is a seahawks fan, and also a veteran of iraq and afghanistan, and a proud sergeant in the u.s. army to make that draft pick because they wanted to send a signal that we love our sports, we love our football. that's fun and games, but this is the competition that counts.

every time the recipient says he accepts it on behalf of the whole team, and everybody who wears the uniform of the american armed forces and when those citations are read, americans across the country stop and listen, and they're stirred by the sacrifices you render for each other and for all of us. i'm here to say thank you and how proud i am of you, and i'm here to say how proud i am of your families because in some ways -- in ways large and small -- their sacrifice, just leak yours.

i'm also here because after more than a decade of war, we're in -- the last year marked a major milestone. for the first time the armed forces took the lead to secure their own country. toted you're in a support role helping to train and assist afghan forces. for many of you this will be your last tour in afghanistan. and by the he wanted of this year the transition will be complete, and afghans will take full responsibility for their security, and our combat mission will be over. america's war in afghanistan will come to a responsible end.

[ applause ] it's because of you and the more than half a million americans, military and civilians, who served here in afghanistan. i don't want you to ever forget why are you here or how vital your role is. as you may know, i was recently in new york city, and we were there to dedicate the new 9/11 museum, and i had time to spend with the survivors and with the first responders who had rushed to the scene and had a chance to ponder the portraits and biographies of those that were killed that day and to think about those that were killed in pennsylvania and at the pentagon, and once again, we

resolve to never forget what happened on that september day. and to do everything in our power to prevent anything like that from ever happening again. that's why you are here. that's why you are here. i notice some of you don't remember because as i was getting a briefing while brad was singing, i saw a picture of the twin towers in the operation room nearby. i know you don't forget. four years ago on my first visit to bagram as president, i laid out our mission, and general dunford, and ambassador cunningham just gave me a briefing on your progress, and today every single one of you, everybody who has served here and all the members of our coalition can be proud because you are completing our mission.

our troops here played a central role in the counterterrorism operations, including the one that delivered justice to osama bin laden. so along with our intelligence personnel, have you helped prevent attacks and save american lives back home. al qaeda is on its heels in this part of the world, and that's because of you. we said that we were going to reverse the taliban's momentum, and so you went on the offensive driving the taliban out of its strongholds. everybody knows afghanistan is still a very dangerous place, and insurgents still launch cowardly attacks against innocent sls, but just look at the progress you've made possible. afghans reclaiming their communities, and more girls returning to school. dramatic improvements of public health and life expectancy and

literacy. that's your leg acy. that's what you did. even with all the challenges, more afghans have hope for their future, and so much of that is because of you. we said that we were going to train afghan forces so they could take responsibility for more of their security, so you have been training afghan forces and building afghan forces up, and we know they've still got a long way to go, but for nearly a year afghans have been in the lead, and they're making enormous sacrifices. you look at the casualties they're taking on. they are willing to fight. afghan forces are growing stronger. afghans are proud to be defending their own country, and that, again, so much of that is because of you. the thing about last month's elections, despite all the threats from the taliban, the afghan people refused to be terrorized. they registered to vote. afghan security forces secured thousands of polling places. then millions of afghans lined

up to cast their ballot, and next month's runoff will be another step towards the first democratic transfer of power in the history of this nation. that's a tribute to the courage and determination of people of afghanistan, but it is also a tribute to you and the sacrifices of so many americans and our coalition partners. everything that you have done over the years. we know that this progress has come at a heavy price. tomorrow is memorial day. the base is here in afghanistan and the towns across america we will pause, and we'll pay tribute to all those who have laid down their lives for our freedom, and that includes nearly 2,200 american patriots who made the ultimate sacrifice, that last fullmer of devotion right here in afghanistan. i know you've stood in front of

those battle crosses. i know many of you carry the memories of your fall lennen cos in your heart today. we will honor every single one of them not just tomorrow, but forever. i know that our gratitude is shared by the afghan people. one of them -- one of afghanistan's leading women, a member of parliament recently wrote an open letter. i don't know if many of you had a chance to see it. she described all the changes that have taken place here, including the millions of girls going to school and pursuing their dreams, and she wrote this. i want you to listen. it's been a difficult journey marked by blood and violence, but we have made significant gains and achievements, which would not have been possible without the swren russ support of the international community, especially the american people. especially the american people. she's talking about all of you.

she's talking about your families. she's talking about those who we've lost. that's the difference, and the legacy that you can be proud of. even as our combat mission ends later this year, i want everybody to know in this country and across the region, everybody knows the people of afghanistan will endure. with our strategic partnership we'll stand with the afghans as they build their economy, as they improve their lives, men, women, boys, and girls, and i have made it clear that we're prepared to continue cooperating with our afghan partners on two security missions training and equipmenting afghan forces and counterterrorism targets against al qaeda. afghanistan has sworn in its new president. i'm hopeful we'll sign a bilateral security agreement that