The US Vice President said it was "never an option" to scrap plans to Kabul, where he later held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
KABUL: United States Vice President Dick Cheney said the suicide bombing on Tuesday at the United States air base he was visiting in Afghanistan made a "loud boom" and drove him briefly into a bomb shelter.
Cheney said it was "never an option" to scrap plans to go on to the Afghan capital Kabul, where he later held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
He told a small group of reporters inside his high-tech customised trailer in the belly of the cavernous military plane taking him to his next stop Oman, that he had heard a "loud boom" when the attack occurred.
"It was about 10 o'clock this morning. I heard a loud boom. And shortly after that the Secret Service came in and told me there had been an attack on the main gate -- apparently a suicide bomber," Cheney said.
"They moved me for a relatively brief period of time to one of the bomb shelters near the quarters I was staying in," said Cheney, who appeared relaxed in his suit and cowboy boots as he retold the story.
Once the situation "settled down", he said, he returned to his room until it was time to leave.
While the base briefly went to "red alert" after the attack, which killed at least 14 people, the bloodshed did not derail his plans to meet Karzai.
On whether he considered cancelling the meeting, the centrepiece of his surprise visit to Afghanistan, Cheney said: "No. Never an option."
The vice president said he was unaware of reports that the Taliban had claimed responsibility for the attack but said such attacks should "never affect our behaviour at all".
"I think they clearly try to find ways to question the authority of the central government and striking at Bagram (air base) with a suicide bomber... is one way to do that," he said.
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