New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Travels to Afghanistan -- Three-Day Overseas Trip Sponsored by U.S. Military --- New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo took a covert flight to Afghanistan Saturday as part of a three-day overseas trip sponsored by the U.S. military, according to his office and a person familiar with the matter. -- Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, was to receive counterterrorism briefings in Afghanistan and visit with New York National Guard members deployed in the region, according to an itinerary disclosed publicly after he landed in Afghanistan on Saturday evening, local time. -- Mr. Cuomo first embarked Friday afternoon from New York to Washington, D.C., where that evening he received security briefings from top-level Department of Defense officials, the person familiar with the matter said. He then flew out of Andrews Air Force Base to Ramstein Air Base in southwest Germany, where he visited injured troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, according to his public schedule. -- He and Department of Defense officials then flew to an undisclosed location in Afghanistan. He is expected back in the U.S. by Monday evening, the person familiar with the matter said. -- Mr. Cuomo's office said he was joined on the trip by Army Under Secretary Brad Carson, other Defense Department officials and three other governors. Bill Haslam, Republican of Tennessee; Jay Nixon, Democrat of Missouri and Brian Sandoval, Republican of Nevada. -- In an interview with The Wall Street Journal upon his departure on Friday, Mr. Cuomo said he decided two weeks ago, in the days following President Barack Obama's declaration that the U.S. would pursue the destruction of the Islamic State, to participate in the trip because "it is now abundantly clear that this terrorist threat, even though it has been quiet for 13 years—that this is the new normal." - More, WSJ, http://online.wsj.com/articles/new-york-gov-andrew-cuomo-travels-to-afghanistan-1411837361