British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has left Afghanistan after a day-long visit in which he met UK soldiers and President Hamid Karzai.
Mr Brown started his first trip to Afghanistan since taking office in the southern province of Helmand.
Helmand is the base of most of Britain's deployment of more than 6,000 troops to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
He met soldiers there and praised their bravery in the fight against the Taliban extremists.
Mr Brown then travelled to Kabul to meet Mr Karzai.
After talks with the president, he said that Britain was committed to helping Afghanistan face down the extremists including by building its own security forces.
The prime minister arrived in the capital as troops entered the Helmand town of Musa Qala which became a key Taliban base after falling to the rebels a few months after British troops agreed to pull out on the request of tribal elders.
