Mon Oct 30, 11:08 AM ET
Iraq's National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie met his US counterpart Stephen Hadley in Baghdad to discuss speeding up the handover of Iraqi security forces to local control.
A statement from the Iraqi government said the pair talked about the formation of a new US-Iraqi security committee, which was announced last week by US President George W. Bush and Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
"They discussed accelerating the training of the Iraqi armed forces and their handover to Iraqi control," the statement said.
Hadley's visit had not been announced in advance, and appears to have been a follow up to talks on Saturday between Bush and Maliki, who held videophone conference to iron out disagreements over the coordination of security policy.
As a result Rubaie, Iraq's defence and interior ministers, US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and the commander of US troops in Iraq General George Casey have been named to a panel to oversee joint military planning.
The United States still has 142,000 troops in Iraq helping train and protect Iraqi forces, but both are struggling to quell a vicious wave of sectarian violence and defeat a violent rebellion against Maliki's US-backed regime.
Most of Iraq's army divisions still fall under Casey's command and Maliki is pushing for them to be handed over more swiftly to full Iraqi control.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino confirmed that Hadley was in Iraq but told reporters aboard Bush's official Air Force One airplane: "I think that the press reports about the relationship being sensitive are overblown."
Perino called Hadley's unannounced visit "a long-planned trip to the region" that was "part of our ongoing assessment and continued cooperation" with Iraq.
"While the logistics are difficult, anytime you can have a face-to-face meeting with your partner or your colleague, that can help facilitate communication and it also gives Mr Hadley a good chance to be on the ground to assess things and be able to report back to the president," she said.
Hadley's visit came amid apparent tensions between Washington and Baghdad ahead of November 7 US elections in which opposition Democrats have used the unpopular Iraq war as a key campaign issue.