MICHELE NORRIS, Host: Defense Secretary Robert Gates has had a busy day, starting in Afghanistan, then with a brief stop in Saudi Arabia, and ending the day in Bahrain. Gates is on a weeklong trip that's also taken him to Europe where he worked to shore up support for the White House strategy on Iraq. NPR's Guy Raz is traveling with Gates and joins us now from Bahrain. And Guy, first tell us about Afghanistan. Secretary Gates met with senior commanders there, and they say they need more troops.</s>GUY RAZ: But there are actually another 10,000 American troops in Afghanistan that are not under NATO command, and right now, U.S. commanders in Afghanistan are asking the Pentagon to extend the service of at least one Army battalion, which is about 700 troops. And the reason why is because U.S. military intelligence officials and Pentagon officials are all expecting a pretty severe spring offensive launched by the Taliban.</s>MICHELE NORRIS, Host: But yet, the White House is calling for more troops. Is there any indication of where these troops will actually come from?</s>GUY RAZ: But basically, U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan, and of course Pentagon officials, are hoping those troops will come from NATO, because NATO has yet to send an additional 3,000 troops to Afghanistan. Now, they haven't done so in large part because of domestic political opposition.</s>MICHELE NORRIS, Host: The White House is paying a lot of attention to this region. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was just in Saudi Arabia. Was Secretary Gates there to reinforce her message or perhaps to bring a new one?</s>GUY RAZ: I mean, the Saudis, who are Sunni Muslims, are looking at Iraq, with this ascendant Shiite Muslim political class, and they're worried because behind it all, they see the influence of Iran.</s>MICHELE NORRIS, Host: Thank you, Guy.</s>GUY RAZ: Thank you.</s>MICHELE NORRIS, Host: That was NPR's Guy Raz, traveling with Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Bahrain.</s>MICHELE NORRIS, Host: This is NPR, National Public Radio.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates meets briefly with Saudi Arabian King Abdullah at the Jiddah Airport.