US defense chief headed to Egypt, Saudi

United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates departed Sunday for talks in Egypt and Saudi Arabia focused on "regional security" and Middle East peace efforts, a Pentagon official said.

Gates and officials in both countries "are likely to discuss the regional security situation, Iraq and Afghanistan, the Middle East peace process," as well as Iran's role in the region, a U.S. defense official told reporters.

"Fundamentally this is about maintaining and enhancing our relations with these two old, close allies," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Gates would also urge both countries to take on a greater diplomatic presence in Baghdad, to forgive the Iraqi government's debt and to include Baghdad in the region's security discussions and organizations, he said.

"I think we will be encouraging -- in both places -- increased engagement in Baghdad," the official said.

Given concern in Arab capitals about Baghdad's friendly relations with neighboring Iran, "the secretary believes one way to counter-balance the Iranian or Persian influence in Baghdad is having more Arabic engagement there as well," he added.

Iraq's Shiite-dominated government has sought to improve its ties with Sunni-led Arab states after Egypt's ambassador to Baghdad was kidnapped and assassinated in 2005.

During Gate's visit to Egypt, he was expected to discuss U.S. assistance for Cairo as it attempts to stem smuggling through tunnels on its border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, the official said.

In Saudi Arabia, it was likely Gates would discuss Riyadh's possible role in helping the Afghan government reconcile with more moderate elements of the Taliban insurgency.

No other details of the defense secretary's tour were announced.

Fundamentally this is about maintaining and enhancing our relations with these two old, close allies

Anonymous defense official

Afghanistan's hard sell

The day before he left for the Middle East, Gates addressed the political difficulty of increasing the American military presence in Afghanistan.

“It would be a hard sell, there's no question about it," Gates told CNN television on Saturday.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), led by NATO, is made up of just over 58,000 soldiers from nearly 40 nations, with nearly half from the US military.

An 8,000-strong brigade will soon head to Afghanistan as part of more than 21,000 reinforcements approved by President Barack Obama to bolster the 40,000-strong American forces stationed in the country, most of which serve with ISAF.

"I think we will have between the American military commitment and our coalition partners -- the ISAF partners -- we will have about 100,000 troops in Afghanistan," Gates said. "That's only about 10,000 shy of what the Russian's had, and I think we need to think about that."

That's only about 10,000 shy of what the Russian's had, and I think we need to think about that

Gates