July 19 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan today to meet military commanders and local officials in a country he wants to make the focus of the U.S. war against terrorism, his campaign said.

Obama is seeking to bolster operations in Afghanistan with at least 7,000 additional soldiers to counter Taliban and al- Qaeda fighters, who have been stepping up attacks against the U.S. and its allies there in recent months.

``I'm looking forward to seeing what the situation on the ground is,'' Obama said yesterday in Washington before boarding his flight, according to a pooled press report. ``I want to, obviously, talk to the commanders and get a sense, both in Afghanistan and in Baghdad of what their biggest concerns are. I'm more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking.''

Obama, 46, today visited Bagram and Jalalabad air bases in Afghanistan and plans to stay overnight at Bagram, CNN reported. The senator is scheduled to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai tomorrow, CNN said. Obama will visit Iraq after Afghanistan.

Some analysts say that, regardless of U.S. troop levels, security in Afghanistan is unlikely to improve much so long as the insurgent sanctuaries in Pakistan remain.

``It's pretty clear the Pakistani military is not confronting the Taliban,'' said Chris Mason, a former U.S. diplomat in Afghanistan who served in the border region. ``I'm not sure that sending in more American troops with no language skills to wander around in the vast Afghan outback is going to improve the situation.''

War Zone

Obama's tour of the war zone is part of a six-day overseas trip aimed at shedding an image of a foreign-policy neophyte that constitutes one of his greatest weaknesses as a candidate, according to a recent ABC-Washington Post poll.

The survey found that voters, by more than a 2 to 1 margin, said presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, 71, has a greater knowledge of the world than Obama. The poll, taken July 10 through July 13, also found that 72 percent of those surveyed said McCain knows enough about world affairs to be president, while 56 percent said so about Obama.

``John McCain has a significant edge on him in terms of world experience,'' said former Defense Secretary William Cohen. ``So there are those who are going to say, `We like Barack Obama, but does he have the kind of experience that John McCain has?'''

In addition to Baghdad, Obama's trip also will include stops in Amman, Israel and the West Bank, Berlin, Paris and London.

Terrorist Attacks

The journey is Obama's first to Afghanistan, where the U.S. led an invasion to topple the Taliban regime following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Since then, Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters have established themselves in rugged mountains along the Pakistani-Afghan border and have used that sanctuary as a base from which to attack U.S. and Afghan forces in Afghanistan.

Senators Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, and Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, joined Obama in Washington for the flight that left Andrews Air Force Base at 3:17 p.m. local time yesterday, according to the campaign. Mark Lippert, one of Obama's chief foreign policy advisers, was the only member of his staff traveling with him on the first part of his trip.

Obama made a stop in Kuwait to visit U.S. troops there, his campaign said in an e-mailed statement.

The trip is primarily intended to bolster Obama's foreign policy credentials in the U.S., according to Saad Mohseni, director of the Moby Media Group, Afghanistan's largest multi- media conglomerate. ``That's his vulnerability,'' Mohseni said in a phone interview from Dubai today.

Musharraf

Mohseni said he has been in contact with both presidential campaigns and has been impressed by the number of South Asia experts on Obama's foreign policy team compared with McCain's.

``Afghans appreciate that Obama has been very critical of their government because they are very frustrated right now, but they were particularly impressed that very early in the campaign he was very harsh with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, which drew a rebuke from Musharraf,'' Mohseni said.

Obama said last August that he would be open to ordering U.S. military strikes into Pakistan against al-Qaeda.

``McCain has been critical of the Afghan government too, but Afghans are concerned that he has been very close to Pakistan's military in the past,'' Mohseni said.

Illinois Senator Obama contends that the war in Iraq has strained the U.S. military and diverted resources from the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan. He is promising to withdraw most combat forces from Iraq within 16 months of taking office, and calls for sending two additional brigades of about 3,500 soldiers each to Afghanistan.

More Brigades

McCain of Arizona has called for the addition of at least three more brigades in Afghanistan and also this past week said the situation in the country has ``deteriorated.'' McCain opposes Obama's Iraq withdrawal plan and rejects his opponent's contention that a continued American military presence there detracts from the effort in Afghanistan.

``With the right strategy and the right forces, we can succeed in both Iraq and Afghanistan,'' McCain said July 15 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. ``I will turn around the war in Afghanistan, just as we have turned around the war in Iraq, with a comprehensive strategy for victory.''

Afghans who follow U.S. politics support Obama more than McCain because the Democrat has put emphasis on Afghanistan from the start of the presidential campaign, according to Moshtaq Ahmad Qadari, an official at Herat University in western Afghanistan who said he saw reports of both candidates' speeches.

Resources

``Afghans definitely favor Obama because he is more willing to spend military and financial resources here,'' Haroun Mir, founder of the Kabul-based Afghanistan Center for Research and Policy Studies said in an interview in Kabul.

Obama's plan to refocus efforts in Afghanistan by drawing down all combat troops in Iraq is ``disingenuous,'' according to Michael O'Hanlon, a national security specialist at the Brookings Institution in Washington, who said removing three to five brigades from Iraq is adequate for Afghanistan.

``Afghanistan does require you to draw down a little in Iraq, but it doesn't require you to draw down precipitously,'' O'Hanlon said.

Republicans have criticized Obama, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on European Affairs, for failing to hold any hearings on NATO's role in Afghanistan. The alliance has more than 53,000 soldiers there and is responsible for military operations in the southern part of the country, where the Taliban has been especially active.

``There are concerns about the imbalance between some European nations, their level of commitment to the fight in Afghanistan, and caveats these nations place on their forces in theater,'' Republican Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina wrote to Obama this week in urging him to hold hearings.

The U.S. has more than 19,000 soldiers under NATO command in Afghanistan and another 16,000 in a separate counterterrorism force in the eastern part of the country.

As of July 11, 4,119 U.S. military personnel have died in Iraq and 539 in Afghanistan.

To contact the reporters on this story: Bill Varner in Kabul, Afghanistan, at wvarner@bloomberg.net; Julianna Goldman in Washington at jgoldman6@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 19, 2008 12:14 EDT