Gates in Kabul to review transition

KABUL, Afghanistan, March 7 (UPI) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived Monday in Afghanistan to visit Afghan President Hamid Karzai ahead of a key military transition benchmark.

U.S. and international forces are preparing to start handing over some responsibility to Afghan forces in July. Karzai last year said he would like his forces to assume responsibility over all military operations in the country by 2014.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell in a statement said regular visits by top defense officials help Washington get a better understanding of what's happening on the ground in Afghanistan.

"Frequent, regular visits provide (Gates) with good measuring sticks to determine how rapidly progress is being made," the spokesman said in a statement.

Washington maintains an upbeat assessment of the capabilities of Afghan forces, though the British government recently described European efforts at training Afghan police as failing.

The Kabul visit by Gates comes as Karzai expressed frustration over reports international forces killed several Afghan children in military operations last week. U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top military commander in Afghanistan, apologized personally to the Afghan president for the accident.

Karzai in a statement quoted by CNN said the apology wasn't enough to allay public concerns about the international military role in his country.

In expressing his regrets, U.S. President Barack Obama agreed with the Afghan president that such incidents undermine the two countries' joint effort to fight terrorism.