Updated

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Afghanistan on an unannounced visit to try to calm tensions between the country's two feuding presidential candidates.

Kerry's arrival in Kabul late Thursday also follows the killing Tuesday of a U.S. general by an Afghan soldier at the national defense university. That incident underscored tensions that persist as the U.S. combat role winds down in Afghanistan amid the political uncertainty that Kerry is trying to address.

The presidential candidates remain locked in a bitter dispute over election results now being audited in a process that Kerry brokered last month.

He planned to see the candidates Thursday night and then meet with current Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday before heading to Myanmar for an Asian security conference.