"Success in Afghanistan is our top priority," he told reporters after the Brussels meeting.

The new US defense chief has expressed concern that a Taliban revival in southern Afghanistan and the slow pace of reforms and economic reconstruction under Karzai threatens gains made since the Taliban's ouster in December 2001.

"One of the subjects we've been discussing was the increased level of violence last year and some indication that the Taliban want to increase the level of violence in 2007," he said.

He said they discussed how to respond to that "and perhaps to try to act to avert it".

NATO forces have remained active through the winter, traditionally a dormant period for Afghan insurgents because of the heavy snows that prevent movement in the mountainous border areas.

Scores of insurgents were killed in air and ground attacks last week trying to infiltrate from Pakistan, NATO officials have said.

On Tuesday, Gates will meet Karzai, the top US commander in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, and the commander of the 33,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), British General David Richards.

His visit comes less than a week after President George W. Bush announced plans to send more than 20,000 additional troops to Iraq, further stretching US forces.

But Gates will query US and NATO commanders on whether they have enough troops and other resources to deal with the surge in Taliban activity, a senior US defence official said.

The United States has 22,000 troops in Afghanistan, about half of them with ISAF and the other half dedicated to counter-terrorism missions and training the Afghan army.

In his talks with Karzai, Gates is expected to reaffirm US commitment to Afghanistan's central government and discuss ways it can extend its reach and influence beyond Kabul.

How to deal with Taliban safe havens in Pakistan's tribal border areas is another issue that is almost certain to be discussed.

Karzai has bitterly blamed the government of Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf for the Taliban's comeback and relations between the two governments have been strained by the upsurge in attacks.

But Washington has refrained from public criticism of Musharraf, an ally whose support has been crucial to its campaign to drive the Taliban from power and pursue the leaders of Al-Qaeda.

Gates's last involvement with Afghanistan was as a senior CIA official in the 1980s, at a time when the US spy agency was funding and arming an Islamic insurgency that drove the Soviets from Afghanistan.

Now in his fourth week on the job after an extended absence from government, he is taking charge of the US armed forces at a time when the US position in the Middle East is under pressure from Islamic militants and Iran.

In Brussels, he defended a US decision to send a second aircraft carrier battle group and Patriot missile defence to the Gulf as a move meant to show US commitment to the region.

He said that as recently as 2004, when he co-authored a report on US policy towards Iran, he believed diplomatic engagement was worth trying with Tehran because it was doing some constructive things in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"None of those conditions apply any longer," he said. "The Iranians believe that they are in a position to press us in many ways. They are doing nothing to be constructive in Iraq at this point."

"In addition they have supported Hezbollah's efforts to create a new conflict in Lebanon, and so the Iranians are acting in a very negative way in many respects," he said.

"My view is when the Iranians are prepared to play a constructive role in dealing with many of these problems, then there might be opportunities for engagement," he said.

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