Latest News

"We are still at war," said Mr. Hagel, who earned two Purple Hearts while serving as a combat infantryman in Vietnam.

Before landing in the Afghan capital, Mr. Hagel said a significant focus of his visit would be assessing the detailed plans for transferring responsibility for security to the central government, army and the police here by the time the NATO combat mission expires in December 2014.

"That transition has to be done right," Mr. Hagel said. "It has to be done in partnership with the Afghans, with our allies." He emphasized the importance of "our continued focus and energy and attention on Afghanistan" even as the number of American troops sharply declines.

Mr. Hagel has visited Afghanistan four times before, while serving as a Republican senator from Nebraska. His first trip, in January 2002, came just a month after the rout of Al Qaeda fighters and the Taliban government that had provided Osama bin Laden safe haven.

His most recent visit was in July 2008, when he accompanied a Democratic senator from Illinois — Barack Obama, who as president nominated Mr. Hagel to his current post. Since retiring from the Senate in 2009, Mr. Hagel has not been as directly involved in Afghan policy as was his predecessor, Leon E. Panetta, who arrived at the Pentagon from a tour as C.I.A. director.

Given the evolving mission, Mr. Hagel acknowledged that another goal for his visit was "to better understand where we are in Afghanistan" as the American and allied role shifts from combat to a mission focused on training and advising.

"Even as we move into more of a support role, this remains a dangerous and difficult mission," Mr. Hagel said in a separate statement to American and coalition personnel issued upon his arrival. "But the goal we have established — to have Afghans assume full responsibility for security by the end of 2014 — is clear and achievable."

The small American military force that carried out the invasion of Afghanistan, ordered in retaliation for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda, grew to more than 100,000 under Mr. Obama's troop increase. But it has now dropped to 66,000, and by early next year will be cut in half, falling to a planned 32,000.

"I need to talk to, listen to, get a good sense from our commanders on the ground," Mr. Hagel said. The defense secretary also is scheduled to meet with President Hamid Karzai, who has proved to be a complicated partner for the American government as he has grown increasingly assertive.

Mr. Obama has made no decisions on the size of a possible American military presence beyond 2014, and Mr. Hagel said this trip to Afghanistan would put him in a better position to offer advice to the president. NATO defense ministers have discussed proposals for an American and alliance force of between 8,000 and 12,000 troops after 2014, although senior American commanders proposed a somewhat larger combined coalition deployment of up to 20,000 troops.

The conclave date was set on Friday afternoon during a vote by the College of Cardinals. Tuesday will begin with a Mass in the morning in St. Peter's Basilica, followed by the first balloting in the afternoon.

In the past 100 years, no conclave has lasted longer than five days.

That said, there doesn't appear to be a front-runner in this election, and the past week of deliberations has exposed sharp divisions among cardinals about some of the pressing problems facing the church, including of governance within the Holy See itself.

U.S. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, considered a papal contender, said in a blog post Friday that most of the discussions in the closed-door meetings covered preaching and teaching the Catholic faith, tending to Catholic schools and hospitals, protecting families and the unborn, and supporting priests "and getting more of them!"

"Those are the 'big issues,'" he wrote. "You may find that hard to believe, since the 'word on the street' is that all we talk about is corruption in the Vatican, sexual abuse, money. Do these topics come up? Yes! Do they dominate? No!"

Early in the week, the Americans had been pressing for more time to get to the bottom of the level of dysfunction and corruption in the Holy See's governance that were exposed by the leaks of papal documents last year. But by Thursday afternoon, Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles tweeted that the discussions were "reaching a conclusion" and that a mood of "excitement" was taking hold.

Vatican-based cardinals had been angling for a speedy end to the discussions, perhaps to limit the amount of dirty laundry being aired.

According to Vatican analysts and even some cardinals themselves, the list of papabili, or those considered to have the stuff to be pope, remains relatively unchanged from when Benedict XVI first announced he would resign Feb. 28. But some Italian media have speculated that with governance such a key issue in this conclave, the cardinals might also be considering an informal pope-secretary of state "ticket."

The Vatican secretary of state is primarily responsible for running the Holy See, but it's not an elected job like the pope. It's a papal appointment, and will be a very closely watched papal appointment this time around given the stakes.

Also Friday, the cardinals formally agreed to exempt two of their voting-age colleagues from the conclave who in past weeks had signaled they wouldn't come: Cardinal Julius Darmaatjadja, emeritus archbishop of Jakarta, who is ill, and Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who resigned last week after admitting to inappropriate sexual misconduct.

That formality brings the number of cardinal electors to 115; a two-thirds majority — or 77 votes — is required for victory. Benedict in 2007 changed the conclave rules to keep the two-thirds majority requirement throughout the voting process after Pope John Paul II had decreed that after about 12 days of inconclusive balloting the threshold could switch to a simple majority.

By reverting back to the traditional two-thirds majority, Benedict was apparently aiming to ensure a consensus candidate emerges quickly and ruling out the possibility that cardinals might hold out until the simple majority kicks in to push through their candidate. His decision might prove prescient, given the apparent lack of a front-runner in this conclave.

Lombardi said a few items of business remain outstanding, including drawing lots for rooms at the Vatican's Santa Marta hotel, where the cardinals will be sequestered once the conclave begins.

On Friday, he showed a video of the room in which the new pope will sleep his first night as pontiff; it features a bed with a heavy, dark wood headboard featuring a carved image of Christ's face. There is also a sitting area and a study.

The pope is expected to stay there for a few weeks even after the election, since the papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace must be renovated. The apartment was sealed Feb. 28, just after Benedict resigned, and cannot be reopened until the new pope formally takes possession of it.

Lombardi explained that after an eight-year papacy, certain plumbing and electric maintenance work that had been put off must be carried out — work that cannot begin, however, until the seal on the doors is broken.

___

Gov. Dennis Daugaard of South Dakota on Friday signed into law a bill that would allow teachers to carry guns in the classroom.

While some other states have provisions in their gun laws that make it possible for teachers to be armed, South Dakota is believed to be the first state to pass a law that specifically allows teachers to carry firearms.

About two dozen states have proposed similar bills since the shootings in December at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., but all of them have stalled.

Supporters say that the measure signed by Mr. Daugaard, a Republican, is important in a rural state like South Dakota, where some schools are many miles away from emergency responders.

Opponents, which have included the state school board association and teachers association, say this is a rushed measure that does not make schools safer.

For days, speculation has been feverish about when they would begin their conclave, the secret balloting to choose a new pope. They made their decision shortly after beginning the latest of their regular meetings, at 5 p.m. local time, with the news transmitted by an e-mail from the Vatican press office.

So on Tuesday afternoon, the princes of the church will file into the Sistine Chapel and begin secret, anonymous balloting for a successor to Benedict XVI, who set the transition in motion by resigning the papacy on Feb. 28, the first pope to do so in nearly 600 years.

Since Monday, the cardinals have been gathering daily in a Vatican auditorium for meetings prescribed by the rules governing papal transitions. A few more than 100 of the 150 or so cardinals present have given short speeches about the state of the church and what is needed in the next pope, a subtle form of politicking and auditioning. Another session was scheduled for Saturday.

Vatican analysts and Vaticanisti, those journalists who cover the Holy See and papal matters with a close eye, have theorized about the significance of the congregation's length. One view is that Italian cardinals and insiders wanted to move quickly to a conclave to stave off too much scrutiny of the scandals that have washed over the Vatican in recent months. Another is that outsiders and foreign cardinals feel the need to explore questions of corruption and mismanagement more deeply.

But other factors are at play. The congregation meetings are the last opportunities for cardinals 80 and above — who are not eligible to vote in the conclave — to voice their views publicly about the church's direction and the kind of pope who should lead it. A more prosaic cause for the timing of the conclave announcement is an interpretation of Vatican rules on declaring a conclave that requires all the elector cardinals to be present to do so. The last, Cardinal Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man, arrived only on Thursday.

The formal discussions have not been focused according to subject matter. The cardinals speak in the order of their requests.

Normally, the conclave should start 15 to 20 days after the end of a papacy, a period intended to include preparations for a papal funeral and for mourning. But Benedict, in the days before he stepped down, revised the rules to allow an earlier start.

The Tuesday start date allows for the cardinals to elect and install a pope from their ranks well ahead of the busy Easter week, which begins on March 24 with Palm Sunday, seven days before Easter itself.

Two of the 117 cardinals under 80 are not attending. They are Cardinal Julius Riyadi Darmaatmadja of Indonesia, who cited ill health, and Keith O'Brien of Scotland, who said he would not be attending after being accused of "inappropriate acts" with priests. He later acknowledged committing sexual misconduct.

On Friday, the cardinals voted to accept the reasons given for the two absences, as they are required to do. The vote was a reminder of the need to choose a pope who is untainted by improprieties. "They're very concerned about getting somebody clean," said Robert Mickens, the Vatican correspondent for The Tablet, a Catholic weekly based in London. "The O'Brien scandal is right in their faces," he said.

There are no clear front-runners, but some cardinals hinted earlier in the week that they believe the church needs a compelling communicator who wins souls through his words and his holy bearing, and a strong-minded administrator who can tackle the disarray and scandal in the Vatican.

Benedict, 85 when he retired, was elected on the fourth round of voting in 2005 — a day after the conclave began — while his predecessor, John Paul II, emerged as pope after a conclave lasting from Oct. 14 to 16, 1978. No conclave since the early 20th century has lasted more than five days.

The appearance of Mr. Abu Ghaith before Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of United States District Court in the cavernous ceremonial courtroom in Lower Manhattan, only blocks from the site of the 9/11 terror attack, was fraught with symbolism, even as the details of both his role in Al Qaeda and his arrest remained unclear.

Mr. Abu Ghaith, a slight, trim man with a manicured gray beard and dressed in a blue prison smock, barely spoke aside from some one-word replies to questions from the judge during the 20-minute arraignment. His lawyer pleaded not guilty on his behalf.

Federal prosecutors asked that Mr. Abu Ghaith remain in custody. His lawyer did not challenge the request, but left open the possibility of making a bail application later.

Justice Department officials described Mr. Abu Ghaith as a propagandist who they believe has not had an operational role in Al Qaeda for years and did not participate in the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, or in any plots against the United States.

But one law enforcement official said that Mr. Abu Ghaith, 47, was the most senior Qaeda figure to face criminal trial in New York since America's war against the terrorist network began. He was married to one of Bin Laden's daughters, Fatima, and the indictment alleges a working relationship with the terrorist group's leader, who was killed by United States forces in Pakistan in 2011.

"Among other things, Abu Ghaith urged others to swear allegiance to Bin Laden, spoke on behalf of and in support of Al Qaeda's mission, and warned that attacks similar to those of Sept. 11, 2001 would continue," according to the indictment.

John P. Cronan, one of the prosecutors, told Judge Kaplan that Mr. Abu Ghaith made extensive comments to law enforcement officials after his arrest. He referred to a 22–page document, which was not released publicly, that detailed his statements. Mr. Cronan also referred to audio recordings of statements Mr. Abu Ghaith made to foreign authorities, some of which he said still need to be translated.

The decision to hold Mr. Abu Ghaith's trial in the United States was criticized by some lawmakers who believe that he should not be afforded the privileges or platform that he will be accorded in a civilian court as opposed to a military tribunal.

Outside the courtroom, where dozens of news organizations stood vigil in the blustering wind and snow, there was a noticeable increase in security, with police officers patrolling the perimeter with bomb-sniffing dogs and extra barriers set up for crowd control.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, speaking on his weekly radio show Friday morning, said he would not second-guess the decision to hold the trial in New York.

"No street is going to be closed because of this," he said. "Would I prefer to have it elsewheres? I'm not going to get involved in that because I don't want to make the president's job any more difficult."

Details about Mr. Abu Ghaith's arrest remained sketchy, but officials said he was originally detained last month while staying in a hotel in Ankara, Turkey, after crossing the border from Iran, where he had been living for about a decade. According to one person in Washington briefed on the matter, Turkish officials rebuffed demands by the Obama administration to directly hand him over to the United States, choosing instead to deport him to Kuwait, his home country. On a stopover in Amman, Jordan, American officials took him into custody and flew him to New York.

Jordan's spy service, the General Intelligence Directorate, is one of the Central Intelligence Agency's closest partners in the Middle East.

Mr. Abu Ghaith was a Muslim preacher and teacher in Kuwait who spoke out against Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. In 2000, he traveled to Afghanistan, where he met Bin Laden and eventually married one of his daughters. He attracted wide attention in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks by making statements defending the attacks, some of them carried on Al Jazeera.

According to an indictment unsealed Thursday, Mr. Abu Ghaith appeared with Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri, who was then Bin Laden's deputy, and warned the United States and its allies that a "great army is gathering against you." He called upon "the nation of Islam" to do battle against "the Jews, the Christians and the Americans."

He also urged people at a guesthouse in Kandahar, Afghanistan, to swear allegiance to Bin Laden, and on the night of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, Bin Laden summoned him and asked for his assistance, which he agreed to provide, according to the indictment.

Mr. Abu Ghaith's lawyer, Philip L. Weinstein, declined to comment before the arraignment.

The arrest of Mr. Abu Ghaith was the rare occasion in which a Qaeda operative was detained overseas rather than killed. The Obama administration has expanded the use of targeted killing operations in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere, asserting that they are justified when there is no possibility of capture.

Spokesmen for the C.I.A. and the White House declined to comment.

Mr. Abu Ghaith went to Iran in 2002, one of a few Qaeda operatives who traveled there in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks. Intelligence officials have long debated how the group of operatives — several who are members of Al Qaeda's "shura council" — has been treated inside Iran, and his trial could shed light on its members' lives there. Some officials described them as being under a kind of house arrest, and point out that Iran — a country run by a Shiite Muslim theocracy — would be wary of any alliance with Al Qaeda, a Sunni terrorist network. Others believe that Iran might at least be using the group to keep open communication channels with senior Qaeda leaders in Pakistan.

In recent months, American spy agencies have picked up indications that the Qaeda operatives inside Iran — including Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian who is the terrorist group's senior operative in Iran — might be trying to return to their home countries.

George Venizelos, the assistant director in charge of the New York F.B.I. office, compared Mr. Abu Ghaith's position in Al Qaeda to the consigliere in a mob family, or propaganda minister in a totalitarian regime. He said Mr. Abu Ghaith used his role to persuade others to join "Al Qaeda's murderous cause."

Seth Jones, a terrorism expert at the RAND Corporation, said, "He had serious religious credibility inside of Al Qaeda." Mr. Jones said that it was unlikely that Mr. Abu Ghaith would have intelligence about any active Qaeda plots, but that he could be a useful source of information about the movement of the group's operatives through Iran.

In 2010, the Obama administration abandoned plans to bring five men charged with plotting the Sept. 11 attacks — including the accused mastermind, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a far more significant Qaeda figure — to trial in the same courthouse in Lower Manhattan where Mr. Abu Ghaith will appear Friday, blocks from the World Trade Center site.

The turnaround came in the face of nearly unanimous pressure from New York officials and business leaders after Mayor Bloomberg withdrew his initial support for the plan, saying the security costs and disruption would be too great. The police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, had outlined a plan for securing the trial that involved transforming a section of Lower Manhattan into an armed camp, blanketed with police checkpoints, vehicle searches, rooftop snipers and canine patrols. But should Mr. Abu Ghaith go to trial, officials said, the proceedings would most likely draw far less attention and create far fewer problems.

Three terrorism defendants, who were extradited from Britain in October, are already facing trial in Manhattan.

They include Abu Hamza al-Masri, the fiery Islamic preacher who has been charged with conspiring in a 1998 kidnapping of American and other tourists in Yemen and in trying to help establish a terrorist training camp in Oregon, and Adel Abdul Bary, charged with conspiring in the 1998 bombings of two United States Embassies in East Africa. Both have pleaded not guilty.

But the plan to put Mr. Abu Ghaith on trial in New York City drew immediate criticism.

Representative Mike Rogers, Republican of Michigan, the chairman of the House Select Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that Qaeda leaders captured on the battlefield should not be brought to the United States to stand trial. "We should treat enemy combatants like the enemy — the U.S. court system is not the appropriate venue. The president needs to send any captured Al Qaeda members to Guantánamo," he said.

Julie Menin, the former chairwoman of Community Board 1 in Lower Manhattan, who opposed the earlier plan to try senior Qaeda operatives in New York, said she was in favor of a Manhattan trial for Mr. Abu Ghaith.

"I think it is a very different situation," said Ms. Menin, who is running for Manhattan borough president and said her opposition to the earlier trial was based on the intense disruption that security precautions would have brought to the neighborhood.