BAGHDAD (AFP) - US Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Baghdad on a surprise visit on Tuesday evening, as American troops depart Iraq ahead of a year-end deadline, an AFP photographer said. Biden was met at the airport by US ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey and General Lloyd Austin, the commander of United States Forces - Iraq (USF-I). US President announced on October 21 that US troops would leave Iraq by the end of 2011, bringing to a close an almost nine-year war that has left thousands of US soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis dead, and cost hundreds of billions of dollars. About 13,800 US soldiers are still in the country, and seven US bases remain to be handed over, according to the USF-I spokesman.