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Heavily guarded in war-torn Afghanistan, 8th District Rep. Larry Bucshon met elite fighters, traveled by Blackhawk helicopter and dined in a palace with the president. The November trip with six other members of Congress had been kept secret for security reasons. Bucshon's office disclosed it late Monday afternoon, after he was back on U.S. soil. Security considerations, in fact, loomed over every move Bucshon made in Afghanistan. The seven-member bipartisan delegation — a small group is less likely to be a target, he said — returned home on Nov. 20. It was the same day a suicide bomber in Kabul killed 55 people at a gathering of Sunni Muslim scholars and clerics in the capital. On Tuesday, American forces suffered their worst loss in the country when three Special Forces soldiers were killed by a Taliban roadside bomb. Three more soldiers and an American contractor were wounded. "The biggest risk over there right now is ISIS, Al-Qaeda and, to a lesser extent honestly, the Taliban," said Bucshon, a Republican who was elected this month to a fifth two-year term. "We just can't talk about it until we're back." Bucshon said he wasn't nervous about his safety in Afghanistan. Cautious? Definitely.

"The risks, honestly, are fairly low, because the planning takes months. Our people over there (in commanding General Austin S. Miller's office) helped plan the security for us," he said. "The way I look at it, if our people that are over there defending us against terrorists can be there, then certainly I can."

Bucshon agreed several months ago to make the trip at the invitation of fellow Indiana Republican Congressman Jim Banks. He said he has been looking to go to Iraq or Afghanistan for several years, but not many opportunities come to House members who aren't on the Armed Services Committee. Banks, whose congressional district includes Fort Wayne, is a member of the committee. "And it's dangerous, honestly, to go there," said Bucshon, who wore a helmet and protective vest while there. Traveling by Blackhawk helicopter with armed security was the safest way for members of Congress to get around, the 8th District congressman said. "We had Blackhawk helicopters even if we were traveling a mile or so in the city, which we did a couple of times," he said. "We didn't travel on the surface streets."

The Pentagon declared an end to regular American combat operations in Afghanistan four years ago, but the perception of a threat has persisted, and U.S. troops remain. It's one thing to observe and study events in Afghanistan from Washington, Bucshon said, but it is quite another to see it with his own eyes and hear it from commanders and U.S. troops on the ground. He said he did meet elite fighters.

"We met a number of the U.S. military commandos and Army Rangers that are helping train the Afghan Special Forces," Bucshon said. "We had the opportunity to talk with them about what our mission is over there right now." Most policymakers can agree on a need for U.S. troops ultimately to leave Afghanistan, Bucshon said. "From the briefings we've had, there's been a resurgence of ISIS and Al-Qaeda within Afghanistan, and they're trying to establish, like they did in Iraq, a caliphate — a safe haven for terrorists and terrorist training," he said. "That's a lot of the focus of our people over there right now, to prevent that from happening." Attacks against the U.S. homeland are not unthinkable if it does happen, Bucshon said. "That's what I came away with — right now, because of the resurgence of ISIS and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, that's primarily been our focus — to try to make sure that they're not able to establish a foothold there," he said. Also included in this month's congressional delegation to Afghanistan: Democratic House members Thomas Suozzi of New York, Darren Soto of Florida and Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania, and Republicans Bill Flores of Texas and Rob Wittman of Virginia. Bucshon has been to China, Israel and Jordan as a member of Congress, so it's likely he's eaten some, well, foreign cuisine. The president of Afghanistan apparently didn't serve him and the other members of Congress anything that might have been memorable — like, say, Seekh Kabob, a Falafel Wrap Meal or Taandori Chicken. "Honestly, I can't recall," Bucshon said when asked about the menu. "It was primarily what I'd call a western type of dinner — like chicken and vegetables and this type of thing."