Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki met Thursday with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and discussed bilateral ties and cooperation between Iraq and the United States, Maliki's office said, Xinhua reported.
The two sides discussed various aspects of cooperation, particularly in training and arming Iraqi forces within the framework of the security pact signed earlier between the two countries, the office said in a statement.
"Our armed forces have now the ability to counter any attack, and the ability is increasing day by day," Maliki said.
The statement did not comment on media reports on remarks made by Gates earlier in the day, saying that Washington would be willing to consider extending its troops' presence in Iraq beyond the end of 2011.
"If folks here (Iraqis) are going to want us to have a presence, we're going to need to get on with it pretty quickly in terms of our planning," the reports quoted Gates as saying before meeting with Iraqi leaders.
"I think there is interest in having a continuing presence. The politics are such that we'll just have to wait and see because the initiative ultimately has to come from the Iraqis," he added.
Earlier in the day, Gates visited a U.S. military base just west of Baghdad and met with top U.S. commanders in Iraq before meeting some 200 U.S. service members in the base.
Iraqi official television of Iraqia said that Gates hailed the "extraordinary progress" made in Iraq, stressing that the country has set an example for democracy in the region. "When you look at the turbulences going across the entire region, many of these (Middle East) countries would be happy if they could get to where Iraq is today," the channel quoted Gates as saying after meeting with U.S. troops at a military base just west of Baghdad.
Gates referred that despite Iraq has seen nationwide protests, but Iraqis have not been demanding regime change, unlike protests occurred in Tunisia and Egypt.
"What has been achieved here from democracy was due to huge sacrifice on the part of the Iraqis and on the part of our troops. It is really extraordinary," Gates said.
Gates arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday evening with the aim of holding talks with senior Iraqi officials over the political and security situations here as well as cooperation between the two countries.
Gates is also scheduled to meet with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and some other top official later in the day before leaving for northern Iraq to hold talks with the Kurdish regional government leader Massoud Barzani.
According to a press release from the U.S. forces, Gates travelled to Baghdad from Saudi Arabia after his meeting with Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz earlier Wednesday.
Gates' visit came months before the deadline of U.S. troops withdrawal form the country by the end of 2011.
By mid-2010, U.S. troops in Iraq had been reduced to below 50, 000 soldiers. Washington said that the remaining U.S. troops in Iraq are conducting support and training missions.
U.S. military forces are to pull out completely from Iraq by the end of 2011 according to a security pact signed by the two countries in late 2008.
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