Pence in surprise trip to Afghanistan

KABUL — Vice President Pence told Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on a secret visit Thursday to Afghanistan that the U.S. is “here to see this through” as they discussed a newly announced U.S. strategy to break the stalemate in America’s longest war and consulted on upcoming parliamentary elections.

Pence’s surprise pre-Christmas visit was the first to the war-torn country by either Trump or the vice president, and it came as the Trump administration charts a pathway to ending the 16-year war in Afghanistan.

“We’re here to see this through,” Pence told Ghani and Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah at the presidential palace in Kabul. Later, at a rally-style event at Bagram Air Base, Pence told hundreds of U.S. troops that “victory is closer than ever before.”