US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has arrived in Afghanistan.
Mr Obama is also due to visit Jordan and Israel, as well as Britain, France and Germany as part of his foreign tour.
It is thought he is seeking to bolster his foreign policy credentials ahead of polling in November.
Robert Gibbs, the senator's top aide, said Mr Obama had left Washington on Thursday and stopped in Kuwait on the way to Kabul to visit US troops stationed there.
'I'm looking forward to seeing what the situation [in Afghanistan] on the ground is,' the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee told reporters before leaving.
'I want to, obviously, talk to the commanders and get a sense, both in Afghanistan and in Baghdad of, you know, what ... their biggest concerns are.
'And I want to thank our troops for the heroic work that they've been doing.'
Mr Obama said he was visiting Afghanistan and Iraq in his capacity as a US senator, and it was up to President George W Bush to discuss specific policy with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
He has called for sending two more brigades, or about 7,000 US troops, to Afghanistan and shifting from what he called the Bush administration's single-minded focus on Iraq.
