Mattis's arrival came just two days after an attack by the Taliban on one of the Afghan National Army's largest bases, in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, that inflicted what Afghan officials are admitting is a death toll that could climb to 200 soldiers.
Gunmen wearing army uniforms stormed a military compound in the Balkh province, killing at least eight soldiers and wounding 11 others, an Afghan government official said Friday.
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis arrived in Afghanistan on an unannounced visit Monday, hours after his Afghan counterpart resigned over a deadly Taliban attack that triggered anger and left the embattled army in disarray.
The suicide bomber used a mini-van and targeted the Afghan guards who were providing security for a US military base near the city of Khost, said Ghyrat.
Gen. Faizullah Ghyrat, a provincial police chief, said six other security guards were wounded.
Mattis said he expects an ongoing dialogue with the Afghan leadership in order to provide his best assessment and advice to US President Donald Trump.
US Defence Secretary James Mattis (R) and senior advisor Sally Donnelly arrive by helicopter at Resolute Support headquarters in the Afghan capital Kabul on April 24, 2017.
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And 88 percent - about as close to a consensus as you get in polling - support using it for medicinal purposes. And women are now as much in favor of legal marijuana as men are; in previous years they were less so.
The insurgent attack has led to a flood of criticism of President Ashraf Ghani's administration, with many accusing it of nepotism and appointing incompetent officers to key security posts who have failed to rid army ranks of soldiers suspected of links to the Taliban. Some 140 Afghan soldiers were killed in that attack.
Mattis is visiting as Afghans are looking to President Ghani to announce a four-year security plan for the country in the coming weeks.
The Taliban claimed an attack Monday on a US base in Afghanistan as Secretary of Defense James Mattis arrived in the country to assess what has become America's longest-fought war.
Mattis, who was on his first visit to the conflict-ridden country as the Pentagon's chief, said sending any weapons to Afghanistan is illegal and Washington would raise the issue with Moscow.
"We're also approaching a sensitive time when the Taliban launches its spring offensive".
Nicholson recently told Congress that he needs a few thousand more troops to keep Afghan security forces on track to eventually handling the Taliban insurgency on their own.
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