The US Defence Secretary has met United Arab Emirates leaders on a tour to thank Gulf allies for help in the Iraq war and discuss a possible new US military "footprint" in the region.
Mr Donald Rumsfeld landed in Abu Dhabi six hours late after a mechanical problem delayed his aircraft - the plane was forced to land at Shannon Airport- causing him to miss a planned visit to Afghanistan. Officials said he hoped to go to Kabul later in the week.
US war commander Gen Tommy Franks flew in from Qatar to take part in the talks with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, the UAE Defence Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, and the armed forces chief.
"We talked about the way ahead in Iraq and Afghanistan," Mr Rumsfeld said before leaving for the Qatar, host to US military central command headquarters.
"We assured the defence minister and crown prince that the United States intends to do what is necessary with our coalition partners to see that there is a new environment in Iraq, a permissive environment, that allows the Iraqi people to begin that important process of developing an Iraqi interim authority and ultimately a free Iraqi government," he added.
Washington is studying possible changes in its costly military presence in the Middle East, with the removal of Saddam Hussein seen as potentially allowing for a reduction in the US presence in the politically sensitive region.
Asked if US defence officials had requested the Emirates to take more US forces in the future in any new realignment, Gen Franks said: "We didn't ask the question." However he conceded that with the fall of Saddam, Washington was looking closely at realigning its forces in the region. He declined to speculate on whether forces would be smaller.
"We need to study it, we need to see exactly what footprint will have the highest payoff for us."
On arriving in the Qatari capital, Doha, Gen Franks commented on the surrender of Tariq Aziz to US forces and said he was providing a lot of information to US intelligence interrogators.
Mr Rumsfeld said he thanked the oil-rich Emirates for their support in the global war on terror and for help in the Iraq campaign. He said they were also providing major humanitarian aid to Iraq.
Pentagon officials gave no advance indication of whether Mr Rumsfeld would visit Iraq, and would not name other stops on the trip.
Mr Rumsfeld also said he would meet the Afghan President, Mr Hamid Karzai, to discuss declaring a formal end to combat operations in most of Afghanistan and speed up reconstruction there. Skirmishes have continued between Taliban guerrillas and US troops in Afghanistan 18 months after Washington launched that war. - (Reuters)