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Barack Obama makes secret visit to Afghanistan

US president flies to Afghanistan to thank US troops for their service but weather forces him to cancel meeting with Karzai

US President Barack Obama thanks army
President Barack Obama thanking US soldiers for their service. Obama flew into Afghanistan to meet with American troops. Photograph: Jason Reed/REUTERS

Barack Obama slipped unannounced into Afghanistan today, days before an important review about the conflict that has already lasted nine years.

Plans of the US president's trip into the war zone were tightly guarded and he landed in darkness after a clandestine departure from the White House on Thursday. His secretive journey was made to personally thank US soldiers for their service during the holidays. He also had a meeting scheduled with the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, in Kabul, which he was forced to abandon abruptly.

The White House said rough weather – wind, dust and cloud cover – made it unsafe for the president to fly by helicopter from the huge military complex at Bagram airfield to the presidential palace, where he was to have had a working dinner with the Afghan leader.

Obama instead will have a secure video conference with Karzai from the military complex and will not travel to Kabul.

In total, Obama spent three hours on the ground in Afghanistan, about half the time he had scheduled.

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