Gates arrived from Saudi Arabia on an unannounced trip that came as the US military opened an investigation into allegations that US-led air strikes on insurgents in western Afghanistan killed dozens of people including civilians.

"We have a new policy, a new strategy, a new ambassador and we have a lot of new troops going into the area," Gates told reporters in Riyadh before setting off for the Afghan capital Kabul.

It was his first visit to Afghanistan since US President Barack Obama took office in January and unveiled the following month a new strategy to turn the tide against a growing Islamist insurgency challenging the Kabul government.

The plan includes the deployment of 21,000 reinforcements and increased focus on insurgent sanctuaries across the border in Pakistan.

"Most of this visit will be spent out in the field," Gates said. "I just want to get a sense out on the ground level what the needs are, what the challenges are, what the solutions to some of the problems are."

"Mainly I want just to see how it's going in terms of the new infrastructure to accommodate the additional troops," Gates said. "I want to ask right at the ground level -- 'what do you need out here you're not getting?'"

Members of an 8,000-strong Marine brigade have begun arriving in Afghanistan as part of the build-up focused mainly on the country's southern flashpoints.

Washington plans to have its reinforcements in place by September. There are currently about 38,000 US forces serving in Afghanistan but US officials say this could rise to 68,000 by the end of the year.

Gates said he wanted to ensure that combat troops had the equipment and support they needed, including new armoured vehicles and helicopters for medical evacuations.

The Pentagon chief has been concerned that the "golden hour" -- the time it takes to get a wounded soldier to an operating table -- in Afghanistan tends to lag behind that in Iraq.

Washington's reinforcement of the NATO mission in Afghanistan comes amid growing unrest in neighbouring Pakistan, where Islamabad has sent in troops to counter the Taliban's advances in the northwest.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai were in Washington Wednesday for talks with Obama and other top officials on how to fight the raging insurgency.

In Kabul, Gates was due to talk with US officers on the course of the war, including top commander General David McKiernan, who has requested another 10,000 troops in 2010.

McKiernan told reporters travelling with Gates that he hoped more boots on the ground this year, combined with civilian aid and development, would deal a blow to the growing insurgency in the country's southern provinces.

"My intent for this is that this breaks the security stalemate in the south," he said.

The US general said that apart from the logistics of the troop build-up, efforts were underway to prepare the Afghan public for the influx of more foreign forces in a country traditionally hostile to outside armies.

He said he had held meetings with tribal leaders in southern and western provinces and said they accepted the need for more NATO troops as a temporary measure.

"There's a recognition that there's not enough (local forces)," he said.

McKiernan also said that "allegations" of heavy civilian casualties in US-led air strikes in Farah province were being investigated and could not be confirmed. He said "25 plus" insurgents were killed.

Karzai, who has ordered a government investigation, has warned that civilian casualties in the war in Afghanistan risk local goodwill on which success depends.

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