US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived in Kabul on Saturday on an unannounced visit to Afghanistan in the final weeks of NATO’s 13-year war

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived in Kabul on Saturday on an unannounced visit to Afghanistan in the final weeks of NATO's 13-year war.
  
Hagel told reporters that Afghanistan had "come a long way" over the past decade and that a newly-elected Afghan government and its army were ready to take charge as the bulk of the international force departs by the end of the month.
  
"As difficult, as challenging, as long as this has been -- by any definition, the country of Afghanistan, the people of Afghanistan are far better off today than they were 13 years ago," Hagel told reporters aboard his plane.
  
"If, (for) no other reason, because they have the ability to decide their own fate, their own way, on their terms. They're not completely there yet. But they've come a long way," he said. The advances had come as a result of the "blood and treasure" spent by American, allied and Afghan troops, he added.
  
Hagel, who is shortly to step down from office, is expected to meet with senior Afghan officials as well as talk to those US troops still deployed in the country.