ISLAMABAD: Getting US President George Bush into not one but two battlegrounds in the ‘war on terrorism’ — Pakistan and Afghanistan — stretched his security detail, but Mr Bush was adamant about going despite the risks.

In doing so, he offered a boost to President Pervez Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, both struggling to contain militants trying to destabilise their governments.

By making the trip, Mr Bush may well have been within several hundred kilometres of Osama bin Laden, the elusive Al Qaeda leader who Mr Bush wanted ‘dead or alive’.

Some in the Bush entourage wondered whether Mr Bush would alter his schedule after a suicide car bombing in Karachi killed a US diplomat a day before he was due to arrive in Pakistan.

The Texan, whose presidency has been dominated by fighting militancy, quickly scotched any doubts.

“Terrorists and killers are not going to prevent me from going to Pakistan,” he told reporters in New Delhi.

As a security precaution, Air Force One brought the US president to Chaklala Air Base under cover of darkness, window shades ordered closed.

There were scores of US security personnel waiting on the runway, with barbed wire and parked buses strategically placed to stop any would-be attacker breaking through.

As a further precaution, tactics were used to make it unclear to the press pool with Mr Bush whether he travelled from the air base to the heavily fortified US embassy by motorcade or by helicopter where he stayed on Friday night.

Aides said Mr Bush insisted on going in order to demonstrate solidarity with President Musharraf, who has survived several assassination attempts since the Sept 11, Al Qaeda attacks.

Mr Bush’s visit to Afghanistan carried risks as well.

He said he had wanted to go there ever since the Taliban government was toppled from power in 2001, and finally got his chance, but it was no surprise that the White House kept the trip secret until just a few hours before Mr Bush was due to land.

After flying over the barren mountains of Afghanistan, Air Force One dropped quickly, banked hard and landed at high speed at Bagram Air Base.

Helicopters flying remarkably low to the dusty ground to avoid chances of any militant getting lucky with a rocket-propelled grenade then took Mr Bush and his entourage from Bagram to Kabul.

On board one of the choppers, reporters were jarred when door gunners sprayed machinegun fire out at the barren countryside. Who they were firing at was unclear. It might have been a test fire. But it was a clear sign Mr Bush had entered hostile territory. —Reuters