US Homeland Security chief arrives in Afghanistan

[December 31, 2010]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano (neh-pahl-ih-TAN'-oh) has arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan, to spend New Year's Eve with U.S. troops and the Homeland Security officers who have been working with the Afghan government to try to secure that country's porous borders from militants, as well as weapons and drug smugglers.

The department said in a statement that Napolitano will meet with top American and Afghan officials before traveling to the Persian Gulf state of Qatar (GUH'-tur), then to Israel and Belgium.

Napolitano is checking on progress to track and stop the flow of terrorist financing through the Gulf, and regional efforts to increase aviation security. Yemen's al-Qaida offshoot attempted to bring down two U.S.-bound cargo planes with explosives-packed printer cartridges in September.

[Associated Press]

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