KABUL, Aug 11: US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday met US troops in Afghanistan at the start of a visit for talks with the Afghan government, just two months before its first democratic presidential election.

Soon after his arrival, Mr Rumsfeld, who is in Afghanistan for just one day, flew by helicopter to the eastern city of Jalalabad to see a US-led military reconstruction project and to meet US and Afghan troops.

"This country's is doing well. You folks are doing well," Rumsfeld told the troops, who included members of the Special Forces Unit. In Kabul, he is due to hold talks with President Hamid Karzai on the war on terror. -Reuters