By Kim Sengupta, Defence Correspondent
David Beckham flew out to Afghanistan last night on a surprise visit to British troops. He said he hoped to "do something useful" following the Achilles tendon injury which has ruled him out of the World Cup.
Beckham, 35, will meet troops and Afghan children, although his participation in kickabout games for the photographers will be limited, because of his injury. Instead he will spend the weekend meeting soldiers, sleeping in a tent and eating in their refectory.
The midfielder, who plays club football for Los Angeles Galaxy, is also expected to meet American troops, and those of other nationalities, such as the Danish, Estonian and Canadian.
He will be the most famous British sportsman to visit the front line in Helmand. A number of other sportsmen, including footballers, have been approached to take part in morale-boosting trips but most have not felt able to undertake the assignment.
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.