British Prime Minister David Cameron was forced to scrap part of a visit to Afghanistan intended to hail improved security after a soldier went missing and was later found dead.

The soldier's mysterious death in Helmand province, for which the Taliban claimed responsibility, overshadowed Cameron's announcement that security had improved enough for Britain to soon withdraw a small number of troops.
Cameron arrived in Helmand on Monday morning on a surprise visit but decided to abandon a planned trip to the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, one of a handful of towns earmarked for an early handover to Afghan forces.
The trooper went missing from a checkpoint in Helmand in the early hours of Monday and the defense ministry in London later announced, after a huge international manhunt, that his body had been found with gunshot wounds.
""His exact cause of death and the circumstances surrounding his disappearance and death are currently under investigation,"" Lieutenant Colonel Tim Purbrick, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said in a statement.
There was no immediate reaction from Cameron on the soldier's death, but he earlier told reporters travelling with him that he had cancelled his trip to Lashkar Gah after hearing of the ""very worrying"" disappearance of the soldier.
""I was just very clear that you've got something like that absolutely urgent taking place, where you want to concentrate all the assets and ability that you have to try and find this person and bring it to the right conclusion.
""It's just absolute common sense that the military should concentrate on the most important requirement of all which is to help and find this person rather than to bother flying me around.""
Instead, Cameron met Helmand provincial governor Gulab Mangal and senior British commanders at Camp Bastion, the main British and U.S. base in Helmand, on the first day of a two-day visit to Afghanistan.