KABUL: Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi was in Afghanistan Sunday to meet President Hamid Karzai, commanders of a NATO-led force operating here and Italian troops, the Italian embassy said.

Prodi’s surprise visit follows that Saturday of the leaders of France and Australia who also have troops in NATO’s International Security Assistance Force.

The Italian prime minister started his visit in Kabul and was due to travel later Sunday to the western city of Herat where most of Italy’s some 2,000 troops in Afghanistan are based, the official said on condition of anonymity.