The first lady was to be in the country for about five hours Wednesday, time to visit women who are training to be teachers and others who have made a business of selling handicrafts. She also was to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and have dinner with U.S. troops stationed at Bagram Air Base north of Kabul.

Bush has wanted to visit Afghanistan for a couple of years but delayed the journey, mostly because of security concerns in the war-torn country, where U.S. forces still are battling a stubborn Taliban-led insurgency. Her trip was kept secret until just before she left from Andrews Air Force Base near Washington.