Iran, Qaeda will exploit Arab unrest: Pentagon chief

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in Iraq Thursday that Iran and extremist groups such as Al-Qaeda would try to exploit the unrest sweeping the Arab world.

"Yemen has really eased up the pressure on Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," Gates said, referring to the militant group's affiliate in Yemen, which is witnessing a popular uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

"It's also a concern that the internal security services of many of these countries have turned to their internal problems rather than broader counterterrorism mission," Gates said during a visit to the Camp Liberty US base west of Baghdad, where he was inspecting US forces.

But he added that Arab leaders, particularly in Egypt, remain "anxious" to prevent radical Islamists from taking advantage of events in the Middle East.

"We have to keep our eye on it very closely because... this is a period where extremists will probably try to take advantage -- including Iran," Gates said.

We must "make sure these guys don't make a free ride," he said.

Gates arrived in Baghdad late Wednesday after a short stop in Saudi Arabia, where he sharply criticised the Islamic Republic after talks with King Abdullah.

"We already have evidence that the Iranians are trying to exploit the situation in Bahrain and we also have evidence that they're talking about what they can do to create problems elsewhere," Gates said, referring to Shiite-led protests which were crushed by the Sunni monarchy.

A senior U.S. defense official said the Pentagon chief would also express support for Iraqi officials to "complete the government formation process, particularly to get security ministries dealt with."

More than a year after an indecisive general election, Iraq still has no defence, interior or national security ministers, even though Maliki stitched together a deal to form a national unity government in December.

Fewer than 50,000 US troops are currently in Iraq, down from a peak of more than 170,000 and ahead of the planned full withdrawal in late 2011.

Asked about a possible extension of the U.S. military mission in Iraq, the defense official said Gates did not rule that out, but the request must come from Iraq.

"The ball is in their court," he said. "It would probably be in their interest to ask for it sooner rather than later because we're starting to run out of months."

General Babak Zebari, the Iraqi armed forces chief of staff, has warned that the U.S. withdrawal was premature, saying his forces would not be able to ensure full security before 2020.

Gates told the U.S. House of Representatives' Armed Services Committee in February that Baghdad would face sizeable "problems" after the withdrawal.

"There is certainly, on our part, an interest in having an additional presence" above levels set by a 2008 accord, he said.

The defense chief also predicted Iraqis will be unable to protect their own airspace, face intelligence challenges and "have problems with logistics and maintenance."

U.S. Ambassador James Jeffrey told reporters on Friday that the 2008 agreement could be renegotiated by either side, but that Iraqi leaders had made no such request and Washington was going ahead with the pullout as planned.

The troop withdrawal is expected to accelerate from late summer, the defense official said.

He said Iraq would continue to face attacks by al-Qaeda and other militant groups after this year, but that Washington did not see that as "a strategic threat to the overall stability" of the country.

Al-Qaeda's Iraq affiliate claimed responsibility for a March 29 suicide bombing in Tikrit in which 58 people died and 97 were wounded, according to SITE, a U.S. group that monitors extremist websites.