US Vice President Mike Pence has made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan to visit US troops stationed there and to speak with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
Pence told soldiers in a speech in an airport hangar at Bagram Airfield that he made the trip four days before Christmas on behalf of their commander-in-chief, US President Donald Trump.
"It's because of you that freedom has a future in Afghanistan and America and all across the wider world," Pence told the troops.
The US has about 15,000 troops stationed in the country as part of an allied force fighting the Taliban and terrorist groups. Pence noted that more than 3500 members of that force - about two-thirds of them Americans - have died in the 16 years since the war started after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States.
Pence said a new strategy for Afghanistan that Trump announced in August put US troops "in a better position to support the Afghan army as they take the fight to [the Taliban]."
The objective is not to fight the war against terrorists for the people of Afghanistan, but to support Afghan forces more effectively with air power, sending a message to anyone who would threaten the US or the peace and security of the Afghan people, Pence said.
He told reporters aboard the flight that the US is in Afghanistan "until freedom wins".
He added that Trump would decide "in the days ahead" whether more US troops would be sent to Afghanistan.
Before attending the rally he made a stop at the presidential palace in Kabul to meet with Ghani.
He said he asked about much-delayed parliamentary elections and reaffirmed the US commitment to support the effort to hold elections next year. Pence said Ghani told him the election commission is developing a framework for those elections and also making plan for a presidential election in 2019.
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