{"id":30160,"date":"2017-12-21T21:37:28","date_gmt":"2017-12-21T21:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/12\/21\/vice-president-pence-makes-surprise-visit-to-afghanistan\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:53:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:53:34","slug":"vice-president-pence-makes-surprise-visit-to-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/flashpoints\/2017\/12\/21\/vice-president-pence-makes-surprise-visit-to-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"Vice President Pence makes surprise visit to Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">KABUL, Afghanistan \u2014 Vice President Mike Pence has made an unannounced trip to Afghanistan to meet with Afghan leaders and visit U.S. troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pence arrived in Afghanistan four months after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/2017\/08\/22\/trump-afghanistan-strategy-calls-for-more-troops-regional-pressure\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">President Donald Trump outlined a new strategy<\/a> to break the stalemate in America\u2019s longest war. Pence\u2019s surprise visit is the first to the war-torn country by either Trump or the vice president. Pence landed at Bagram Air Base under heavy security on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, as well as U.S. troops and U.S. military leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-896766220.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-61080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-896766220.jpg.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-896766220.jpg.jpg?resize=300,157 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-896766220.jpg.jpg?resize=768,402 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-896766220.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,536 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Vice President Mike Pence steps off a plane upon arrival for a surprise visit at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan on Dec. 21, 2017.  (Madel Ngan\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump released his new strategy for ending the 16-year war in Afghanistan in August. The president said U.S. troops would \u201cfight to win\u201d by attacking enemies and crushing terrorists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vice President Mike Pence has made an unannounced trip to Afghanistan to meet with Afghan leaders and visit U.S. troops.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":61075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["flashpoints"],"primary_category":"flashpoints"},"4":{"categories":["flashpoints","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"flashpoints"},"6":{"categories":["flashpoints","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"flashpoints"},"7":{"categories":["flashpoints","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"flashpoints"}}},"categories":[100,8,25],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1846],"class_list":["post-30160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"33URLPFET5H6XAO72V7V3YE3HI","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2017\/12\/21\/vice-president-pence-makes-surprise-visit-to-afghanistan\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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