U.S. defence chief praises Mongolia, given horse during visit

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel waits to be introduced prior to his speech at the National Defense University in Beijing April 8, 2014. REUTERS/Alex Wong/Pool

ULAN BATOR (Reuters) - U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel praised Mongolian troops and got a horse as a gift during a rare visit on Thursday to the landlocked nation strategically located between China and Russia that sits on vast quantities of untapped mineral wealth.

Hagel was the first U.S. defence secretary to visit Mongolia since Donald Rumsfeld stopped there in 2005. He noted the growing role the country has taken in international peacekeeping operations, including in Afghanistan, where it has 350 troops.