Obama returns to Washington after Afghanistan visit

US President Barack Obama waves to reporters upon his return to the White House. Obama has returned to Washington after a surprise visit to Afghanistan where he assured US troops they were winning the war against the Taliban.

VIDEO - President Barack Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Friday, rallying several thousand soldiers and telling them "you will succeed in your mission". Duration: 01:15.

AFP - US President Barack Obama returned to the US capital early on Saturday after a surprise visit to Afghanistan where he assured US troops they were winning the war against the Taliban.

A plane carrying the president touched down at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington at about 6:25 am (1125 GMT).

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

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 the Bagram air base outside Kabul.

A face-to-face visit with President Hamid Karzai was replaced with a 15-minute phone call, and nasty weather scuppered plans to fly 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.