KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence told Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on a secret visit to Afghanistan on Thursday that the U.S. is "here to see this through" as they discussed a newly announced U.S. strategy to break the stalemate in America's longest war and consulted on upcoming parliamentary elections.

Pence's surprise pre-Christmas visit was the first to the war-torn country by either Trump or the vice president, and it came as the Trump administration charts a pathway for ending the 16-year war in Afghanistan.

"We're here to see this through," Pence told Ghani and Afghan...