British Prime Minister David Cameron has became the first world leader to hold talks with newly-inaugurated Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, as NATO troops end their long war against the Taliban.
Cameron arrived in Kabul on the unannounced visit after visiting an air base in Cyprus, where British jets launching strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq are based.
Ghani was sworn in on Monday after a fraud-tainted election that plunged Afghanistan into months of political deadlock.
In a US-brokered deal, Ghani signed a power-sharing agreement with his former poll rival Abdullah Abdullah, who was appointed to the new position of "chief executive".
The stability of the new "national unity government" is seen as essential for Afghanistan's future as the international military presence and aid funding declines.
The presidential palace in Kabul and British officials confirmed that the visit had started, and talks were under way.
The British army has wound down its presence in the volatile southern Afghan province of Helmand after years of heavy fighting in some areas where the Taliban has launched fresh offensives in recent weeks.
Britain still has 3900 troops in the country as part of the NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), most of them at Camp Bastion in Kandahar province.
ISAF will complete its combat mission at the end of this year, with a follow-up "support" mission taking over in 2015 on training duties, assisting the Afghan army and police.
The British contribution to the follow-up mission will be at an army officers' training academy outside Kabul.
The Afghan president said the NATO soldiers in the country had made the world a safer place.
"I want to say thank you to those families for the loss of their loved ones," Ghani said.
"They stood shoulder-to-shoulder (with Afghan forces) and we will remember them."
Cameron acknowledged that the armed forces had paid a "very high price" for bringing "stability" to the country over the past 13 years.
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