Biden in Afghanistan

KABUL: US Vice President Joe Biden arrived for a surprise visit to Afghanistan Monday, where he will meet President Hamid Karzai at the start of a year when US troops are poised to start limited withdrawals.The trip comes at a "pivot point" for the US in Afghanistan, a senior administration official told reporters, adding it would allow Biden to review progress towards handing responsibility for security to Afghan forces by 2014.US aims to begin withdrawing its troops in July.

Just after arriving in Kabul, Biden spent nearly two hours with the commander of international troops in Afghanistan, US General David Petraeus, and US ambassador Karl Eikenberry.He is due to have lunch with Karzai Tuesday as well as visiting a training facility for Afghan security forces.There are about 97,000 American troops serving in Afghanistan as part of a 140,000-strong NATO-led deployment.Limited, conditions-based withdrawals of US troops are expected to start in July ahead of the scheduled transfer of responsibility for security to Afghan forces in four years.

"The primary purpose of the trip is to assess progress toward the transition to Afghan-led security beginning in 2011, and to demonstrate our commitment to a long-term partnership with Afghanistan," a White House official told the Reuters news agency.

"We're not here to govern Afghanistan, we're not here to nation build, we're not here to secure Afghanistan for the Afghans. Those are responsibilities that belong to the Afghans.

"The only purpose of our mission now is to help put the Afghans in a position where they can fully assume the responsibilities of governing the country and securing the country," the official said.