US winning war: Obama

US President Obama meets with troops at Bagram Air Base. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

BAGRAM AIR BASE - PRESIDENT Barack Obama paid a surprise visit to Afghanistan late on Friday and assured cheering US troops they are winning the war against the Taleban despite 'difficult days ahead'.

The president landed in Kabul under cover of darkness, with aides announcing nothing of the trip beforehand due to security concerns.

Mr Obama, who has tripled US troop numbers in Afghanistan, spent a mere four hours in the country during his second visit as president, all at this air base outside Kabul. A face-to-face visit with President Hamid Karzai was replaced with a 15-minute phone call, as weather scuppered plans to fly Mr Obama by helicopter to the nearby Afghan capital.

The trip came as the Obama administration faced new friction with Karzai over embarrassing assessments of the Afghan leader in leaked diplomatic cables, but war czar Douglas Lute told reporters the topic did not come up between the two leaders. The White House is also preparing to release a review of its war strategy later this month to an American public increasingly weary of the nine-year conflict.

'You're achieving your objectives, you will succeed in your mission,' Mr Obama told nearly 4,000 exuberant troops who greeted him with cheers and applause. 'We said we were going to break the Taleban's momentum. That's what you're doing.'

But Mr Obama warned 'there are going to be difficult days ahead' in the fight against insurgents, and appeared to choke up as he described his visit to a base hospital where he pinned Purple Heart medals on five wounded soldiers spending the holiday season on the battlefront. -- AFP