US Vice President Mike Pence has made an unannounced trip to Afghanistan to meet with American military officers and Afghan leaders, amid escalating violence in the country despite the presence of thousands of US-led NATO troops there.
Pence departed on the trip shortly after an event at the White House on Wednesday night and arrived on a military aircraft at Bagram Airfield under the cover of darkness on Thursday night.
From Bagram, Pence flew by helicopter to the capital Kabul, where he held meetings with President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.
Pence told the Afghan leaders that the United States was “here to see this through,” and underscored American commitment to the country four months after President Donald Trump pledged a stepped-up military campaign against Taliban militants and signaled the United States would deploy more troops to the country.
