President Bush expressed confidence today that Osama bin Laden would eventually be captured as he paid a surprise visit to Afghanistan.

The five hour stop in Kabul is the US leader's first visit to the country since US-led forces toppled the Taleban regime in 2001.

Mr Bush's official jet touched down at the US air base at Bagram on an unannounced visit en route to India, where he will be accompanied by a large delegation of American business leaders for a three-day trip designed to cement economic and strategic ties. Reporters aboard Air Force One were only told of the changed of schedule after a refuelling stop in Shannon.

Civilian airspace was closed down over Kabul as Mr Bush was ferried in by helicopter, and US Army Humvee jeeps patrolled the streets of the Afghan capital. He was also due to cut the ribbon on the new US Embassy in Kabul and give a pep talks to US troops before setting off for India.

Mr Bush was given a red carpet welcome by President Karzai, whose government has been a close ally of the Americans. Afghanistan has been a key battlefield in Mr Bush's war on terror, and some 200 US personnel have been killed there since a US-led coalition invaded to oust the Taleban after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

At a joint press conference with Mr Karzai, Mr Bush was asked if he still expected Bin Laden - widely thought to be holed up somewhere in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan - to be caught.

"I am confident he will be brought to justice," he replied. "We have got US forces on the hunt for not only bin Laden but anybody who plots and plans with bin Laden; there are Afghan forces on the hunt for not only bin Laden but anybody who plots and plans with bin Laden; and we have got Pakistan forces on the hunt."

He added: "We are making progress at dismantling al-Qaeda. Slowly and surely we are bringing the people to justice and the world is better for it as a result of our steady progress."

In Washington yesterday, America's top military intelligence official told a Congressional panel that violence in Afghanistan increased 20 per cent last year.

"We judge insurgents now represent a greater threat to the expansion of Afghan government authority than at any point since late 2001, and will be active this spring," said Lieutenant-General Michael Maples, the head of the Defence Intelligence Agency.

In Kabul, Mr Bush was also asked about the stand-off over Iran's nuclear energy programme, which Western powers fear is a front for the development of atomic weapons.

His message was clear. "Iran must not have a nuclear weapon. The most destabilising thing that can happen in this region and in the world is for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon," Mr Bush said.

"And so the world is speaking with one voice to the Iranians, that it’s okay for you to have a civilian nuclear power operation, but you shall not have the means, the knowledge to develop a nuclear weapon."

Ahead of his arrival, an estimated 100,000 Indians demonstrated in New Delhi, waving black and white flags and chanting "Death to Bush". The rally was organized by an umbrella grouping of Muslims, communists and poor farmers, some of whom had travelled through the night by bus and train to join the rally against both the Bush visit and the publication in Europe of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

"The people of India have a categoric message for George Bush: Go home!" said VP Singh, a former Indian prime minister, to roars of approval from the crowd.

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