AAJ TV : Pakistan Ki Awaz

KABUL : US Defense Secretary Robert Gates flew into Kabul on Monday on an unannounced visit, warning of 'hard fighting' ahead despite signs of progress in the eight-year war against Taliban insurgents.

"There is no doubt there are positive developments going on, but I would say it's very early yet," Gates told reporters on his plane before landing in the Afghan capital.

He cautioned that there would be "some very hard fighting, very hard days ahead" as US, NATO and Afghan forces step up pressure on Taliban militants in the south, part of a new strategy designed to end the war.

Gates acknowledged "bits and pieces of good news" when asked about the recent capture of senior Taliban leaders in neighbouring Pakistan, but said it was probably too soon to say momentum had shifted to coalition forces.

"I think more needs to be done," he said, adding that a surge of US reinforcements was still in its initial stages.

About 6,000 of the 30,000 additional troops pledged by President Barack Obama in December have arrived in Afghanistan, Gates said, with the rest due to deploy by the end of August.

It was the Pentagon chief's first visit to Afghanistan since NATO and Afghan troops swept into the former Taliban stronghold of Marjah on February 13, in an assault seen as a pivotal test of Obama's bid to turn around the war.

Gates said he would discuss the results of the offensive -- billed as the biggest since the 2001 US-led invasion -- with the commander of US and NATO troops, General Stanley McChrystal, as well as operations planned this year.

Military leaders have said coalition forces will move on to other Taliban bastions in the south, and have signalled that Kandahar -- the militia's spiritual capital -- will likely be the next target.

Gates said he wanted to "get an update on the campaign not only in Marjah but the next steps as we look to spring, summer and fall".

He was also due to meet President Hamid Karzai, who visited Marjah on Sunday to urge wary residents to back his government.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2010