PESHAWAR – President Bush pledged yesterday not to “cut and run” from Afghanistan and vowed to bring Osama bin Laden to justice when he paid a surprise first visit to the war-ravaged country.

The five-hour visit to Kabul, the first stop on a four-day tour to South Asia, was kept secret until the last minute and carried out under the eyes of thousands of snipers, special forces and air support.

Mr. Bush said he was still confident that Mr. bin Laden and the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, would be brought to justice despite having eluded coalition forces for five years.

“It’s not a matter of if they are brought to justice but when,” Mr. Bush said after meeting President Karzai.

We’ve got U.S. forces on the hunt not only for bin Laden but everybody who plots and plans with [him].” He said that “steady progress” had been made in “dismantling Al Qaeda”.

The presidential retinue, which included the First Lady, Laura Bush, on her second visit to Kabul, had been deemed most likely to stop in Afghanistan only after first traveling to India.

Mr. Bush arrived there last night and is due in Pakistan Friday.

The visit to India, where thousands of protesters rallied before his arrival shouting “Death to Bush,” remains the main focus of the itinerary.

However, Mr. Bush said that Wash ington and New Delhi had still not reached agreement over American help for India’s civilian nuclear program. Mr. Bush arrived at the American military base at Bagram airport north of Kabul and was flown in a swarm of heavily armed helicopters to a red-carpet greeting from Mr. Karzai at the presidential palace.

In contrast to American efforts to counter growing sectarian strife in Iraq, Mr. Bush has been able to trumpet the restoration of democracy in Afghanistan amid relative calm as a victory.

Mr. Bush also hoped that his visit would ease Afghan fears that plans to scale down the American military presence from 21,000 troops to 16,000 did not signal a withdrawal.

At the opening yesterday of the new American embassy in Kabul, Mr. Bush said: “They ask me with their words,they ask with their stares as they look in my eyes,’Is the United States firmly committed to the future of Afghanistan’? My answer is ‘absolutely.'”

Mr. Bush also attempted to calm tensions between Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan over Afghan accusations that the government of President Musharraf was not doing enough to curb Taliban incursions.

“My message to President Musharraf is that it’s important that we bring these people to justice. He understands it and after all they tried to kill him four times,” he said.