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Sen. Kay Hagan got a chance to see Afghanistan and some of the problems faced by the U.S. military there this Memorial Day weekend.

She and four other senators spent two days in the country this weekend, evaluating efforts to rebuild the war-torn country and root out the Taliban and Al-Qaeda first hand.

“It’s one thing to hear about it. It’s another thing to be in a helicopter looking over the terrain,” said Hagan on a conference call with reporters Monday.

North Carolina’s junior senator said she visited the Afghan capital city of Kabul and the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand, areas where there is rising violence from a resurgent Taliban. The areas also are known as poppy-growing regions where the drug trade helps fuel the activity of anti-government forces.

Hagan made the trip with fellow Sens. Tom Carper of Delaware, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Mark Udall of Colorado and Mark Begich of Alaska. She is a member of the Senate’s Armed Services Committee.

President Barack Obama is in the middle of a plan to boost U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan by 21,000 troops, many of who will deploy to those southern regions.

“President Obama’s new strategy definitely gives us the best chance to succeed,” Hagan said. “Granted, success is not guaranteed, but we are certainly moving in the right direction.”

She reported that the senators had met both with senior American and NATO commanders, as well as rank-and-file soldiers.

“The generals in particular said they needed time,” Hagan said. “Time is what’s needed to grow the Afghan national police and Afghan national army.”

Although reporters were told that the Senate delegation was traveling in “Southeast Asia” late last week, the particulars of the trip were not revealed until Monday for security purposes. Hagan made the conference call to reporters from an undisclosed location.

“Being there and talking to the troops is something that makes a difference in how I listen and ask questions,” Hagan said when asked what she had learned from the trip.

She added that the Afghan people needed to be convinced that the United States would not leave before the country was able to manage its own affairs. When asked how long that might be, Hagan was uncertain.

“I’ve heard references to three years from people,” Hagan said.

The senators also met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who faces a re-election campaign this summer.

“He was very warm, very receptive, excellent English — answered our questions very forthrightly,” Hagan said.

Hagan said the Afghan leader expressed some of his own concerns.

“The extra troops are very important to him,” Hagan said. “He knows he needs more civilians to come in and help rebuild the infrastructure in his country.”

Hagan said that Karzai and his government need to do more to eliminate corruption while bringing the country’s different ethnic and tribal factions together to help rebuild the country.

She also gave the new U.S. Ambassador, Karl Eikenberry, high marks. The former three-star Army general “knows the country, knows the people,” Hagan said.

“His wife has joined him and they go around the country together.” That kind of teamwork is especially important in a country where women often are relegated to roles outside the public view, she said. “It sends a really strong statement to the men and women.”

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com