Surprise visit

Rico says it must've been one hell of a surprise to almost all concerned; it's not often a President makes a visit to a war zone, but The New York Times has the story:

President Obama landed in Kabul, Afghanistan to sign a strategic partnership agreement with Afghanistan meant to mark the beginning of the end of a war that has lasted for more than a decade.
Obama, arriving after nightfall under a veil of secrecy at Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, flew by helicopter to the presidential palace, where he was to meet President Hamid Karzai before both leaders signed the pact. It is intended to be a road map for two nations lashed together by more of than a decade of war and groping for a new relationship after the departure of American troops, scheduled for the end of 2014.
Obama was scheduled to address the American people from Afghanistan on Tuesday evening, which would be the middle of the night in Afghanistan. The address– on the one-year anniversary of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in neighboring Pakistan– will give Obama a new opportunity to make an election-year case that he has wound down two inexpensive and now unpopular wars, in Afghanistan and in Iraq.