U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Iraq in a surprise visit on Saturday, Iraqi Sharqiya television reported.
The satellite channel said that Gates arrived at a U.S. air base near the town of Balad, some 70 km north of Baghdad, after a visit to Bahrain and Afghanistan.
Gates was expected to meet top U.S. troops commanders in Iraq to discuss cut of troops level and withdrawal from Iraqi cities, according to media reports.
U.S. and Iraq signed a security pact last month that the U.S. 149,000 soldiers are to withdraw from Iraqi cities and towns by mid 2009 and withdraw entirely from the country by the end of 2011.
The Pentagon chief's visit is the ninth to the war-torn country since he took over the post on December 2006. Enditem |
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