Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement Footballer David Beckham has spoken of his awe for British troops while making a visit to Afghanistan. The 35-year-old former England captain set out for Helmand - where about 8,000 British troops are based - on Friday. He told BFBS British Forces News: "These guys are the bravest people that I've ever met and it really is, it truly is, an honour to be here." The visit came as Foreign Secretary William Hague and Defence Secretary Liam Fox met military leaders in Kabul. Beckham said: "To see the morale of the troops is really incredible. It first kind of hit me on the way over when we were on the military plane flying in to Afghanistan. "You can see the faces, you can see obviously they know they are leaving their families, but they're so focussed and they've got this look in their eyes that they're just so confident and just ready. I've been wanting to come for years
David Beckham
In pictures: Beckham visit "It's scary, it really is scary, you feel it. Just yesterday one of the troops was killed, and you feel it and you see the flags at half-mast and you feel the tension there. "These guys are the bravest people that I've ever met and it really is, it truly is, an honour to be here." He added: "I've been wanting to come for years, but with my playing schedule I've never had the time. 'Amazing' "But obviously being injured now it's given me the chance to do things I've always wanted to do and never been able to. I'd love to come back." Asked if he would have considered a military career had he not become a footballer, Beckham said: "Without a doubt... I've represented my country many times on the field, but what these guys do representing our country is really amazing." Beckham posed for pictures, signed autographs, took part in a question and answer session with troops and visited Camp Bastion's hospital. He also got a lesson in weapon handling and joined senior officers cooling off in a paddling pool as temperatures in the camp reaching 45C (113F). During a penalty challenge with troops he scored with his only attempt. The footballer made his name at Manchester United before going on to play for Real Madrid, Los Angeles Galaxy and AC Milan. The UK force level in Afghanistan is currently 9,500, but with special forces totals some 10,000.
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English footballer David Beckham is to visit Helmand Province, Afghanistan, to speak with British service personnel
English footballer David Beckham today arrived in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, the location of some of the most fierce fighting in the ongoing battle against the Taliban insurgency and the location of approximately 8,000 British soldiers and Royal Marines on a "morale boosting" mission. It is expected that he will spend the weekend in the country, visiting both  and the Helmand provincial capital of Lashkar Gah. 

Thirty-five year old Beckham, former captain of the , left on Friday, telling reported that he had "nothing but admiration" for the personnel serving in Afghanistan and that he had "wanted to visit Afghanistan for a long time and I hope that in some small way it helps remind everyone at home what an amazing job they are doing out here in very difficult conditions. I feel very humble." 

The footballer will hold a question and answer session with British troops. He said that the hoped "to do something useful" in Afghanistan, having missed out on the upcoming World Cup due to injury. Beckham is also due to meet groups of Afghan children as well as other soldiers serving in Helmand, including Canadian, Dutch and Estonian forces.  
William Hague with Hillary Clinton at a meeting last week where the two politicians declared their unity in their approach to Afghanistan 
Three British cabinet ministers, including Foreign Secretary William Hague, Defence Secretary  and International Development Secretary  also arrived in Afghanistan today on a separate, diplomatic, mission. They met with American General Stanley McChrystal, the NATO commander in the country and will meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai later today in the first official visit from the United Kingdom to Afghanistan since the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition was formed after the UK general election two weeks ago.

Hague, who discussed Afghanistan with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week, described the operation in the country as "our most urgent priority" while Fox emphasised that he wished to see a speeding up of the process leading to the withdrawal of British troops, saying "national security is the focus now. We the United Kingdom are not a global policeman." 
     
Beckham's visit comes as the deployment in southern Afghanistan is being restructured, with the southern command being split up into two commands, one under the command of an American two-star general and the other commanded by a British major-general. As Beckham was flying out, news broke that a Royal Marine had been killed in an explosion in Helmand.