Longtime Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma blasted President Barack Obama's surprise trip to Afghanistan Tuesday, calling the visit "campaign related" and an "attempt to shore up his national security credentials."
"We've seen recently that President Obama has visited college campuses in an attempt to win back the support of that age group since he has lost it over the last three years," Inhofe said in a statement,
first reported by CNN.
"Similarly, this trip to Afghanistan is an attempt to shore up his national security credentials, because he has spent the past three years gutting our military."
A former member of the military and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Inhofe said the progress made in the country is "fragile" and accused the president of playing politics with the one-year anniversary of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
"The security improvements and the killing of Osama bin Laden a year ago are great American victories that should not be politicized," he said.
Inhofe said the president "has allowed Washington and campaign politics to dictate his strategy in Afghanistan rather than the conditions on the ground."
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