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US Defense Secretary in Afghanistan

   VOA News 02 September 2010

   U.S.  Defense  Secretary  Robert  Gates is in Afghanistan for meetings
   with  President  Hamid  Karzai and the commander of NATO forces in the
   country, U.S. General David Petraeus.
   Gates  arrived  in  Kabul  Thursday  from  Baghdad,  where he attended
   ceremonies Wednesday marking the end of the U.S. military's seven-year
   combat mission in Iraq.
   U.S.  President  Barack Obama said Tuesday the drawdown of U.S. forces
   in Iraq has freed up resources to go on the offense against insurgents
   trying to topple the Karzai government.
   Mr.  Obama  said  he  will  start  a  transition  to  Afghan  security
   responsibility  next  August.   But,  he added the pace of U.S. troop
   reductions  in  Afghanistan  will  be determined by "conditions on the
   ground."
   NATO  says  the latest fighting in Afghanistan has killed two American
   soldiers and a Taliban commander.
   The  alliance  says the U.S. soldiers were killed Thursday in separate
   attacks  in  eastern  and  southern Afghanistan, regions where Taliban
   militants  are  strongest.  This week has been deadly for U.S. troops
   with a spate of militant attacks, killing at least 21 since Saturday.
   NATO  said  it killed the Taliban commander in an air strike Wednesday
   as  he  rode  his  motorcycle  in  the  eastern  province of Paktika.Â
   Officials  said  the  commander  led a group of insurgents involved in
   laying roadside bombs and smuggling foreign fighters into Afghanistan.

   In  August,  Taliban  militants  killed 80 international troops, 56 of
   them  Americans,  while NATO said combined forces killed 160 militants
   and detained more than 500 others.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, and AFP.

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