KABUL - US President Barack Obama arrived in Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday for an unannounced visit to meet with Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai, reported local TV channels quoting Afghan officials.

During his trip here, the US president is expected to sign a strategic agreement with Afghanistan, unnamed Afghan government officials were cited as saying.

However, a spokesperson of Afghan Presidential Palace when approached by Xinhua said she could not confirm the report yet. The US embassy in Kabul and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) would neither confirm the US president's visit.

The reported Obama visit came a week after the Aghan and US governments finalized the draft on the US-Afghan strategic pact, making it ready for inking by the presidents of the two countries.

The controversial agreement, which would pave the ground for a long-term US military presence in Afghanistan if inked, has been welcomed by local analysts as a security stabilizing factor in the militancy-ridden Afghanistan.

Before drafting the core pact, the Afghan government had previously signed two key deals with the United States which obliges US military to hand over the security charge of the Bagram detention center to Afghan administration and allows Afghan security forces to lead special operations including the controversial night raids.

It is expected that the strategic partnership would be signed by Karzai and Obama ahead of a NATO summit in Chicago scheduled for May 20-21.