Gates meets US soldiers fighting Taliban in Afghanistan

Kandahar: US Defense Secretary Robert Gates is meeting soldiers who are fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan's rugged south.

Gates flew to Kandahar early Tuesday for meetings with US and British generals overseeing the current military campaign in Marjah.

Gates presented Silver Stars for valor to two Army aviators before scheduled visits with US forces at small forward operating bases elsewhere in the south.

Gates is in Afghanistan to check on the progress of the war's expansion, directed late last year by US President Barack Obama.

The 30,000 additional US forces Obama ordered are now arriving and most will be in place by summer.