Where's Osama?

"I hope people of Afghanistan understand the people of America have great -- got great regard for human life and human dignity, that we care about the plight of people," he said.

Bin Laden also came up in Bush's interview yesterday with ABC News anchor Elizabeth Vargas. More on that interview further down, but here's an excerpt:

"VARGAS: If when you leave the Oval Office, the White House, Osama bin Laden is still at large, will you consider that a failure?

"BUSH: What I'm looking at is management structure, operators, and whether or not we're doing everything we can to protect the American people. Of course, we'd like to bring him to justice, and we'll stay up -- you know, the only thing I can tell the American people, so long as I'm the president, we'll stay on the hunt and we'll use resources and power and influence to convince others to join us on the hunt as well. And, you know, I'm an optimistic person. I believe we will bring him to justice."

Four years, five months, 18 days and counting.

(In an earlier version of today's column, I made a math mistake and wrote that the September 11 attacks took place five years, five months and 18 days ago. It's actually been four years, five months and 18 days since the attacks.)

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About That Security Problem

Jim VandeHei and John Lancaster write for washingtonpost.com: "President Bush made an unscheduled visit to Kabul Wednesday to rally U.S. troops in Afghanistan and praise the embattled Afghan leader Hamid Karzai at a time of rising violence from the Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists."

Walter Pincus writes in The Washington Post: "The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency told Congress yesterday that the insurgency in Afghanistan is growing and will increase this spring, presenting a greater threat to the central government's expansion of authority 'than at any point since late 2001.'

" 'Despite significant progress on the political front, the Taliban-dominated insurgency remains a capable and resilient threat,' Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples said in a statement presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee at its annual hearing on national security threats."

The Trip and the Press

Pretty much everyone in the press corps had anticipated that Bush would visit Afghanistan while he was in the neighborhood -- but the assumption was that he would do it on the way home, not on the way there.

Press Secretary Scott McClellan and Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin walked back to the press cabin after Air Force One had taken off from its refueling stop in Ireland to announce the news.