The prime minister has become the first western leader to visit Afghanistan since September 11.

Tony Blair's RAF Hercules touched down at the Bagram airfield at midnight last night, a top secret end to a day which saw Pakistan promise renewed action against terrorism.

The Blairs, who were on the final day of their tour of south east Asia, were met on the tarmac by the newly installed Afghan leader Hamid Karzai. Pledging that the West would not walk away from the war-torn country, the British PM also spent time meeting with some of the 500 British troops based in Kabul before departing for home.

Blair had flown from Pakistan where he had held talks with president Musharraf, who in a later statement rejected terror "in all its manifestations."