( CNN ) The new U.S. secretary of defense , Ashton Carter , arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday morning and plans to meet with U.S. troops and Afghan leaders . Carter recently took over as secretary of defense , replacing Chuck Hagel . The Senate confirmed Carter on February 12 . `` The reason for this destination , Afghanistan , in my very first week in office as secretary of defense is because this is where we still have 10,000 American troops and they come first in my mind always , '' Carter told reporters on the plane before it landed in Kabul . On Saturday , Carter will meet with U.S. military leaders , Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah , the nation 's CEO , before going to Bagram to meet U.S. troops . He will visit U.S. troops in Kandahar on Sunday and then leave for Kuwait , where he 'll meet American military leaders , troops and Kuwaiti leaders . He leaves Kuwait on Tuesday morning . Carter said he wants to better understand America 's role in Afghanistan . `` I have seen reports of all kinds giving assessment of how things are going in Afghanistan and I 'm just coming back into the government now and trying to wrap my mind around it , '' he said . When asked about ISIS activity in Afghanistan , Carter replied : `` I 've seen the reports of people essentially rebranding themselves as ISIL here in Afghanistan as has occurred in other places . The reports I 've seen still have them in small numbers and aspirational . '' Carter , 60 , is a respected technocrat who served in a number of high level positions at the Pentagon . He holds degrees in theoretical physics and medieval history from Yale and Oxford . Hagel , a former Republican senator , resigned after less than two years on the job when he was unable to fully mesh with President Barack Obama 's national security team at the White House . CNN 's Diane Ruggiero contributed to this report .
Jimmy Carter was confirmed February 6 as the secretary of defense . He will visit U.S. troops and Afghan officials during his two - week stay .