President Donald Trump spent seven hours on the golf course Friday after he returned to Florida from his 36-hour whirlwind trip to Afghanistan, where he served U.S. troops a Thanksgiving dinner and meet with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to discuss reopening talks with the Taliban.

Air Force One landed at the Palm Beach International Airport early Friday morning to return the president to his Thanksgiving holiday, which he is spending at his Mar-a-Lago residence. 

Trump exited the plane wearing a red 'Make America Great Again' hat and with Sen. John Barrasso, who had accompanied him to the Afghanistan, by his side. 

He looked weary after the 13 hour flight but spent seven hours at his Trump International Golf Course West Palm Beach.

Trump made a quick stop at his Mar-a-Lago residence after he landed from his Afghanistan trip before heading to his golf club, where he was spotted on the phone during the eight minute drive. 

He then returned to Mar-a-Lago early Friday evening. Supporters lined the route on his way back from golf, waving 2020 signs. The president gave them the thumbs' up sign.  

Trump is scheduled to be in Florida through Sunday for Thanksgiving, his first holiday in the state after changing his residence from New York.

'Just returned to the United States after spending a GREAT Thanksgiving with our Courageous American Warriors in Afghanistan!,' he tweeted a few hours after he landed in the Sunshine State. 

His trip to Afghanistan was clouded in secrecy so it wouldn't be revealed ahead of time - as was his Christmas 2018 visit to troops in Iraq - and had many moving parts, including a decoy plane and tweets preset to send from the president's account so there would no suspicion if the twitterer-in-chief went silent.

Reporters traveling with the president were not allowed to reveal his trip and location until shortly before he was preparing to leave.  

The journey back was interrupted by a stop at Ramstein Air Base in Germany early Friday morning, where the president changed planes instead of refueling. 

Deputy White House Press Secretary Judd Deere told reporters traveling with the president that the identical plane to the one Trump took to Afghanistan that also serves as Air Force One - and was parked at Palm Beach International Airport - left Florida while the president was in Afghanistan. 

Trump took that plane back to Florida as the plane change saved time on the ground and let air crews switch out so they could rest. 

The president left Florida Wednesday night and flew to Joint Base Andrews and, from there, on to Afghanistan in a trip that was unannounced for security reasons. 

He spent just over three and a half hours on the ground in his first visit to Afghanistan.

'There is nowhere that I'd rather celebrate this Thanksgiving than right here with the toughest, strongest best and bravest warriors on the face of the Earth,' Trump told the soldiers at Bagram Air Field. 

'We flew 8331 miles to be here tonight for one simple reason, to tell you in person that this Thanksgiving is a special Thanksgiving,' Trump said in his remarks. 'We're doing so well. Our country is the strongest economically it has ever been.'

He also talked about his campaign promise to end needless wars that he says America is involved in.

'I want peace more than anybody,' he said.  

'We are winning like we haven't won in a long time,' he claimed.  

He also vowed to bring American troops home.

'We will continue to work tirelessly until the day when we can bring each and every one of you home and safe to your family - and that day is coming,' he added. 

The president landed at Bagram Air Field, the largest U.S. base in Afghanistan, in the cover of darkness early Thursday morning local time. The first lady did not join him. He made a surprise visit to Iraq last Christmas with first lady Melania Trump. 

The White House went to great lengths to keep the visit a secret after his Christmas visit to Iraq was blown when Air Force One was spotted en route by an amateur British flight watcher. 

Trump secretly slipped out of his Mar-a-Lago residence Wednesday evening and departed from an undisclosed airport a little after 7 pm.

The plane he flew to Florida on, with its distinctive blue-and-white coloring and seal of the president, remained parked at the Palm Beach International Airport to maintain the illusion the president was still there.  

Cell phones, hotspots and other devices emitting a signal were confiscated from reporters traveling with Trump, who were not told the destination of the trip until Air Force One was in the air and on route. 

The White House arranged in advance for the president's Twitter account to remain active during his travel. A Thanksgiving message was tweeted from it Thursday morning.

When the president landed at Joint Base Andrews Wednesday night, he boarded a twin plane also used as Air Force One that was hidden inside a large hangar instead of being out on the tarmac as the presidential plane usually is.  

The press was served bacon a cheeseburger with fries and an iceberg blue cheese wedge salad for dinner on the way there and then a salmon teriyaki with key lime pie on the trip back. It's unclear if the president ate the same meals. 

The president was escorted throughout his visit in Afghanistan by heavily armed soldiers. He traveled with a 15-vehicle escort while on the base. Two surveillance blimps were in the sky overhead.

He served turkey to the troops in a cafeteria, posed for photos with them and delivered brief remarks.

Upon his arrival, Trump went behind a serving counter to distribute turkey on a plate and then handed plates to troops.

He praised the food to the soldiers and told them: 'You'll come back'. 

The dinner menu included turkey, mashed potatoes, cornbread, baked ham, mac and cheese, cornish hen and candied yams. 

And the room was ready for the holidays, decorated with paper turkeys, paper pumpkins and paper leaves decorated the walls with paper streamers and lanterns in red, orange and yellow on the ceiling. 

Playing on TVs in the room was The Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, beamed in live from New York.

After he spent some time serving meals, the president sat down at a table of soldiers, taking a plate of turkey, mashed potatoes and cornbread.  

But it turns out he didn't have time to eat.

'I sat down, had a gorgeous piece of turkey. And I was all set to go and I had some of the mashed potatoes. I had a bite of mash potatoes and I never got to the turkey because the general said come on over and let's take some pictures,' Trump told the troops in his remarks. 

'First time I've never had any turkey at Thanksgiving. But that is okay. But it looked about good. I should have started with that instead of the mashed potatoes. I made a mistake,' he added.

Military personnel said there were about 500 troops in the rooms to greet the president.

Additionally, during his time on the ground, President Trump held a bilateral meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in which he announced he has restarted peace negotiations with the Taliban.

Trump said that he believes the Taliban wants a ceasefire. 

'The Taliban wants to make a deal — we'll see if they make a deal. If they do they do, and if they don't they don't. That's fine,' he said.

'The Taliban wants to make a deal and we're meeting with them and we're saying it has s to be a cease fire and they didn't want to do a cease fire and now they do want to do a cease fire. I believe it'll probably work out that way,' he noted.  

Trump abruptly broke off peace talks with the Taliban more than two months ago after a bombing in Kabul killed 12 people, including an American soldier. 

The Taliban told Reuters on Friday it was ready to restart peace talks.

'We are hoping that Trump's visit to Afghanistan will prove that he is serious to start talks again. We don't think he has not much of a choice,' a senior Taliban commander told the wire service. 

Trump also said he would like to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to 8,600. 

Air Force One left the United States Wednesday night from Joint Base Andrews and landed at Bagram Air Base Thursday morning local time. Trump had flown up from Florida, where he was scheduled to spend Thanksgiving at Mar-a-Lago, to make the overseas trip.

His plane landed with the interior lights off and shades drawn. Trump was greeted on the tarmac by Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who had arrived in Afghanistan on Wednesday.

The president was joined by Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, Sen. John Barrasso, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Dan Walsh, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, Deputy White House Press Secretary Judd Deere and social media director Dan Scavino.  

'It's a dangerous area and he wants to support the troops,' Grisham said of the presidential  visit. 'He and Mrs. Trump recognize that there's a lot of people far away from their families during the holidays and we thought it'd be a nice surprise.'

'It's truly about Thanksgiving and supporting the troops,' Grisham said when asked about the political message of the trip.

When asked how the president was feeling, Grisham responded: 'He's good. He's excited.'

Grisham told reporters traveling with the president that the trip has been planned for weeks. 

Trump invited Barrasso, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who regularly travels to Afghanistan, on the trip when the two saw each other recently in New York, she said.