Robert Gates visits Afghanistan before planned troop withdrawal | World news

• Associated Press
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  Monday 7 March 2011 08.28 GMT

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General David Petraeus, commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, greets US defence secretary Robert Gates upon his arrival in Kabul. Photograph: Pool/Reuters

The US defence secretary, Robert Gates, has arrived in Afghanistan to begin a two-day visit with US troops, allied commanders and Afghan leaders to gauge progress as the Obama administration gears up to make crucial decisions on reducing troop levels.

Gates plans to travel to eastern and southern parts of Afghanistan, the areas most fiercely contested by the Taliban insurgency.

Defence department spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters flying with the Pentagon chief from Washington that Gates wants to get a first-hand feel for changes on the ground since his last visit to Afghanistan in December.

The US is committed to beginning a troop withdrawal in July. But the size and scope of the pullback will depend on the degree of progress toward handing over full control to the Afghan government.

Morrell said Gates expects to hear from troops and commanders that US and Nato strategy is making important progress against the Taliban, who are thought to be gearing up for a spring offensive.

US commanders have been saying for weeks that the Taliban are suffering big losses in territory and personnel, while being denied the funding and infiltration routes on which they have relied in the past to ramp up guerrilla operations each spring.

Marine Major General Richard Mills, top commander in the south-western province of Helmand, told reporters last week that a Taliban counteroffensive is anticipated.

Mills said he expects the Taliban to try "to regain very, very valuable territory ... lost over the past six to eight months". He added that US and allied forces were intercepting "as many of the foreign fighters as we can" who come from Pakistan to attack US and Afghan troops.

Gates sees the spring as a potentially decisive period for President Barack Obama's war strategy.

This week's visit is Gates's 13th trip to Afghanistan, and probably one of his last as defence secretary. He has said he will retire this year but has not given a date.