Barack Obama in Afghanistan to sound out commanders

Kabul: US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama visited Afghanistan on Saturday to talk to Nato commanders and US troops about the war.

Obama made Afghanistan the first stop on an overseas trip aimed at proving his foreign policy credentials.

He will also visit Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and Britain.

"I want to, obviously, talk to the commanders and get a sense, both in Afghanistan and in Baghdad of ...what...their biggest concerns are," he said.

Obama wants to send about 7,000 US troops, to Afghanistan to shift emphasis from what he calls the Bush administration's "single-minded" focus on Iraq.

Obama last week criticised Afghan President Hamid Karzai. "I think the Karzai government has not gotten out of the bunker and helped to organise Afghanistan," he said.