Afghanistan: Hagel in Kabul for unannounced visit, but no plans to meet with Karzai --- KABUL — U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel arrived in the Afghan capital Saturday for an unannounced visit that comes as Washington and President Hamid Karzai remain at loggerheads over the terms of a plan that would keep American troops in the country beyond the end of next year. -- Hagel is the latest senior U.S. official to visit Kabul in recent weeks, but unlike other dignitaries who have sought to coax Karzai into signing a bilateral security agreement, the secretary of defense opted to steer clear of the president altogether. -- That rare break with protocol seemed to signal a new strategy to end the impasse over the bilateral security agreement that could keep thousands of foreign troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014. U.S. officials appear to have concluded that ignoring Karzai could be more effective than continuing to beg him to ink the deal.