Obama in Afghanistan on unannounced trip

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan - President Barack Obama slipped unannounced into dangerous Afghanistan on Friday, one year after widening an ever deadlier war and just days before a pivotal review about the 9-year-plus conflict.

Under intense security, Obama landed in darkness after a clandestine departure from the White House on Thursday, where plans of his trip into the war zone were tightly guarded. Obama was to personally thank U.S. troops for their service during the holidays.

The White House said rough weather forced the president to abruptly scrap his plans to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul. The White House determined the wind, dust and cloud cover made it unsafe for the president to fly by helicopter from the huge military complex here to the presidential palace.

Obama instead will have a secure video conference with Karzai from Bagram Air Field and will not go to Kabul, where he was to have had a working dinner with the Afghan leader.

In total, Obama was to spend three hours on the ground in Afghanistan, about half the time he had scheduled.