Obama signs strategic agreement in Kabul

>>> one year anniversary of the death of osama bin ladin , air force one touched down in the dark, without any visible lights on the runway in kabul , began began. an unannounced trip by president obama to the war zone that became a war zone following 9/11. tonight he will address the nation briefly outside kabul . there was work to be done on the ground there, and there is a lot of politics in the air surrounding this anniversary, in the context of an election year. we have it all covered from washington to kabul , let's begin with our chief white house correspondent and political director chuck todd . what do you know about the trip, chuck?

>> reporter: well, as you know, 9 president left here on the anniversary of the killing, boarded air force one and landed 13 hours later. the u.s. did not lift the embargo until the president was inside the compound in kabul . it was at the palace the president met with karzai, and they signed a strategic agreement on what the united states relationship is going to look like after troops start to pull out in 2014 . here's what the president said about that agreement.

>> we came with a very clear mission. we came to destroy al qaeda . and we have enormous respect for afghan sovereignty and the dignity of the afghan people . together we're now committed to replacing war with peace. and pursuing a more hopeful future as equal partners.

>> reporter: about an hour later, the president then addressed troops at bagram air force base . what was interesting here is how blunt the president was about what military operations are going to look like in afghanistan over the next few years.

>> some of your buddies are going to get injured. and some of your buddies may get killed. and there's going to be heartbreak and pain and difficulty ahead. but there's a light on the horizon.

>> now, what this is is an agreement to forge an agreement. that agreement is this, it's going to be both economic, aide as well as some sort of security force that's going to be in the country over the next ten years. now, what does that force look like? there's not going to be any permanent u.s. bases in afghanistan . instead, u.s. forces would be on afghanistan bases. the united states is pledging they would not launch any military offensive against a foreign country from afghanistan . code wards, they're not going to launch a military assault at iran. however, if they want to launch an assault at a terrorist, in some sort of compound in pakistan, that is something that the united states will still be able to do under the agreement, brian?

>> chuck todd with the white house component. chuck, stay where you are, we'll come back to you in a moment.