President Barack Obama on Friday arrived at the Bagram Air Base in Kabul on an unannounced surprise visit to Afghanistan to take stock of US war-strategy.

Obama was stuck at the Bagram air base and unable to move to Kabul and meet the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai due to bad weather. When Obama landed at Bagram late Friday night local Afghan time, ceiling (cloud cover) was less than 1000ft and winds were blowing at 45mph and above with less than two miles visibility.

The two leaders are now expected to talk over a video conference. The president’s primary focus of the trip is to meet with and thank US troops.

The Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes told reporters travelling with the President that the trip planning began a month ago and the principle reason for going was to spend time with US troops during the holiday season, to thank them and to wish them happy holidays.

Rhodes said this is a “particularly tough time of the year” for men and women in the military and their families. He said the president wanted to “underscore” the sacrifice of service members and their families.

Rhodes said there is “no major new piece” of news that Obama is bringing to the meeting with Karzai. The President’s trip to Afghanistan did not come up in their meeting in Lisbon, he said.

The President’s trip comes as US works on a review of its war strategy to be completed by the end of December, but coincides with new problems with Karzai over embarrassing leaked cables.

WikiLeaks cable this week released a series of secret UScables that renewed American questions about Karzai’s leadership.

One cable, portrayed Afghan President as “paranoid and weak,” “unfamiliar with the basics of nation building” and “overly self-conscious” that his time of glowing reviews from the West had passed.

About 100,000 US troops are fighting in Afghanistan as part of a ramped-up strategy to fight the Taliban in the war ravaged country.

The US President had originally planned to start withdrawing the troops in mid-2011. He believed the deadline was vital to pressure Karzai to take more responsibility for security.

After the Republican Party win in US elections, which says the deadline encourages the Taliban to wait it out, the Obama administration has shifted emphasis to say that the troop withdrawal would take place through 2014.

A NATO summit last month in Lisbon pledged support for Obama’s plan. It agreed that security would be handed over to the Afghan police and military from next year.

US troops invaded Afghanistan after the 9/11 al-Qaeda attacks and ousted the Taliban regime, which gave refuge to elusive extremist Osama bin Laden.