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Cheney in surprise Afghan visit Cheney meets Afghan leader Karzai
(30 minutes later)
US Vice-President Dick Cheney has arrived in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on an unannounced visit, reports say. US Vice-President Dick Cheney is meeting Afghan President Hamid Karzai on an unannounced visit to Kabul.
Mr Cheney is expected to hold talks with President Hamid Karzai at the presidential palace, ahead of a meeting of Nato partners. The two men were expected to discuss Nato's commitment to providing security for reconstruction work, increasingly under threat from the Taleban militia.
It is Mr Cheney's fourth trip to Afghanistan as vice-president.It is Mr Cheney's fourth trip to Afghanistan as vice-president.
Mr Cheney arrived from Iraq, where his visit coincided with the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion of the country. He arrived there from Iraq, where his visit coincided with the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion of the country.
The two men will discuss security and democracy in Afghanistan, and the ways in which the US can continue to support it, a spokeswoman for Mr Cheney said. Mr Cheney told reporters after his arrival in Kabul that he expected a new government in neighbouring Pakistan to be "good and effective friends and allies of the United States".
Mr Cheney is also expected to meet US troops stationed in there. Pakistan is set to have a new coalition government comprising opponents of President Pervez Musharraf, a staunch US ally in the "war on terror" who has become increasingly unpopular domestically.
"I have no reason to doubt their commitment to dealing with the problems that emerge," Mr Cheney said.
The US and Afghanistan have repeatedly asked Pakistan to take action against pro-Taleban militants based along the country's rugged border with Afghanistan.
Troop numbers
Mr Cheney is also expected to meet US troops stationed in Afghanistan.
US troops make up a third of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).
A further 7,000 troops are part of a US-led coalition there, and some 3,200 Marines slated for a seven-month deployment in the south have begun arriving in Kandahar.
Afghanistan will be a key topic at a Nato summit early next month in Romania, as Nato force commanders have asked for more troops to send to the south, where the insurgency is the most active.
Canada, which has more than 2,000 troops in the south, has threatened to pull out unless Nato provide another 1,000 soldiers to reinforce its combat forces.