(1 May 2012) ++NIGHT SHOTS++
1. US President Barack Obama coming down stairs of Air Force One and shaking hands with unidentified people on tarmac before walking towards helicopter
2. Wide pan of airfield with Air Force One and helicopter about to take off with Obama and other helicopters preparing to fly in convoy to Kabul
STORYLINE
Under intense security and the cover of night, President Barack Obama slipped into Afghanistan on Tuesday to sign an agreement cementing a U.S. commitment to the nation after the long and unpopular war comes to an end.
Obama was to be on the ground for about seven hours in Afghanistan, where the United States has been engaged in war for more than a decade following the September 11, 2001, attacks.
The trip carries major symbolic significance for a president seeking a second term and allows him to showcase what the White House considers the fruit of Obama''''s refocused war effort: the killing a year ago of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.
Air Force One touched down late at night local time at Bagram Air Field, the main U.S. base here.
Obama is joining Afghan President Hamid Karzai to sign the agreement that will broadly govern the U.S. role in Afghanistan after the American combat mission stops at the end of 2014 - 13 years after it began.
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