US Defence Secretary Robert Gates flew into Kabul on Tuesday for talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and commanders about Washington's new strategy to send 30,000 extra troops to fight the Taliban.
His arrival marks the first official visit by the US administration since President Barack Obama last week announced he would raise to 100,000 the US deployment in Afghanistan to counter a rising Taliban insurgency.
The Pentagon has announced the first wave of 1,500 extra US Marines will begin arriving in southern Afghanistan next week as the top military officer said they had a short window to seize back the initiative from the Taliban.
"We want to talk with President Karzai and (defence) Minister Wardak about the president's decision and the implementation of that decision, how we will use our troops and the additional troops from our allies in partnership with the Afghan national security forces," Gates told journalists on the plane.
The Pentagon chief said he would also raise the issue of stepping up the training and retention of Afghanistan's fledgling army and police, a cornerstone of Obama's strategy which hopes to bring a quick end to the war.
In an interview with CNN, Karzai said Afghans wanted to be in charge of security "sooner, rather than later" but said it would take two years to train Afghan forces to the point where they can lead operations in many areas.
Gates said he was seeking to reassure Kabul of the United States' long-term commitment, despite Obama's plan to start drawing down US troops in July 2011, which has raised concerns in Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan.
"Another major message will be the importance of a long-term relationship between the United States, ISAF (the NATO-run multinational force based in the country) and Afghanistan," he told reporters.
With Karzai poised to unveil his cabinet after a fraud-tainted re-election, under Western pressure to crack down on graft, Gates emphasised "the importance for us of capable, honest ministers in areas that are critical for our success, such as defence and interior".
He said both the current defence minister and Interior Minister Hanif Atmar "are very capable people".
Gates will also hold talks with top US and NATO commanders, but not the overall commander on the ground, US General Stanley McChrystal, who is due to testify before Congress in Washington later Tuesday.
With military commanders Gates is due to discuss the logistical challenges facing the influx of reinforcements after signing deployment orders for the first wave of 17,000 more US troops that will arrive early next year.
"It's going to require a lot of efforts," Gates told reporters.
He will also meet US troops to "tell them we're in this to win".
Speaking to young Marines preparing to head off to war, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the clock was ticking and that US-led forces had to break the momentum of the Islamist insurgents.
"We've got about 18 to 24 months," Mullen told a gathering of Marines at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
Gates' visit to Kabul comes four days after more than 1,000 US Marines, British troops and Afghan forces launched a major offensive in the southern province of Helmand, a Taliban heartland and primary opium-growing area.
Most of the first wave of extra US troops will be going to Helmand and neighbouring province Kandahar, the spiritual capital of the Taliban and the scene of the worst fighting eight years after the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the Taliban.
Soaring violence has made this year the deadliest since the Taliban fell from power, killing record numbers of civilians, Afghan and foreign troops.
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