President Obama paid a surprise visit to U.S. troops in Afghanistan on Tuesday.

Predictably, the move drew loads of media attention and social media mentions, but it wasn’t without its complications for the president’s communications staff.

It started this morning when confusion reigned as to the whereabouts of the President. First, an Afghanistan-based news station tweeted that Obama had landed in the war-torn nation.

This was curious because the president’s itinerary for the day included closed-door meetings in the White House.

After news agencies started retweeting TOLONews’ tweet saying that Obama was in Kabul, things started to get weird.

Take it away, BuzzFeed:

A few minutes later, at 9:33 a.m., National Security Council Spokesman Tommy Vietor called BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith, who had retweeted the report, to ask that the tweet be taken down, warning that it would endanger the life of the president and everyone with him if the tweet was not removed.

The White House denial only fueled speculation as to the president’s whereabouts. Drudge got involved, the New York Post had to take down a story and it wasn’t until 3 p.m. that the Associated Press reported (officially) that Obama was in Afghanistan.

(Image via)