OSLO (AFP) - Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg arrived in Afghanistan Monday and met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, he told Norwegian reporters accompanying him on the trip.

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Stoltenberg and Karzai discussed human rights issues and corruption in Afghanistan, the Norwegian leader told news agency NTB.

For security reasons, Norwegian journalists had been barred from reporting on the visit before it occurred.

Stoltenberg had been criticised at home for not visiting Afghanistan -- where about 500 Norwegian soldiers are posted -- since 2005.

The prime minister, who was due later to meet with Norwegian troops alongside his defence minister, said it was no coincidence that he was in Afghanistan on Norway's national holiday Monday.

"It's part of the point that I'm here for Norway's national holiday. I want to show others and remind Norwegian soldiers why they are here in Afghanistan," Stoltenberg told NTB.

"Our tradition is to protect freedom and democracy, and we wish to give the same to the people of Afghanistan," he said.

Sweden's Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Bildt was also in Afghanistan Monday at the start of a three-day visit, his fifth in the country.

He was due to meet with Swedish troops stationed in the Mazar-i-Sharif area in the north of the country.

In a statement, Bildt underlined his trip came "immediately after President Karzai's visit to Washington and immediately ahead of the 'peace jirga', and thus provides a good opportunity to assess political developments."

The jirga, a traditional-style meeting, aims to bring together leaders from across Afghanistan, representing its complicated mix of ethnic, tribal, geographic and gender interests.

"Our commitment to Afghanistan's development is long term and firm. But success requires better coordination of various political, economic and military measures," Bildt added.

Sweden also has about 500 soldiers posted in Afghanistan, working alongside soldiers from around 43 countries in a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

Four have been killed since Stockholm sent troops into the country in 2001, while Norway has lost five soldiers in Afghanistan.

Two hundred NATO soldiers have died during the war in Afghanistan so far this year, according to an AFP count based on the icasualties.org website and following the killing of two Italians on Monday.