New York Mayor Visits Afghanistan - 2002-09-24

The mayor of New York City has ended a four-day trip overseas by visiting U-S troops in Afghanistan.

Michael Bloomberg dined with the troops Monday at a U-S air base at Bagram near Kabul. He thanked them for their war efforts and distributed baseball caps sporting the acronym of New York city's fire department (F-D-N-Y) and police department (N-Y-P-D).

Many New York city firefighters and police officers died in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center.

The mayor also dined with the commander of U-S forces in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General Dan McNeill. He gave Lieutenant General McNeill a symbolic set of keys to New York city.

Mr. Bloomberg has served as New York city's mayor since last January, when he replaced fellow Republican Rudolph Guiliani.

Bagram Air Base serves as America's military headquarters in Afghanistan.