NAIROBI, July 19 (Xinhua) -- United States top military official has held bilateral meetings with senior Kenyan officials on ways of enhancing security in the region, officials said on Thursday.

    A statement form the United States Embassy in Nairobi said Admiral William J. Fallon, the new Commander of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), who arrived in Nairobi on Wednesday, held talks with President Mwai Kibaki, Defense Minister Njenga Karume and Chief of General Staff General Jeremiah Kianga.

    "The U.S.-Kenyan partnership plays a key role in the global war on terrorism which the United States values highly," said a statement from the embassy.

    "We look forward to continuing this relationship through future visits of a similar nature reinforcing the overall U.S.-Kenyan Partnership," it said.

    Even though the details of the meetings were not divulged, Admiral Fallon is believed to probably have discussed the role of Africa Command which is expected to oversee Washington's military operations in the continent.

    The Command is expected to secure Washington's rear flank of its global war on terrorism, with eyes trained on lawless areas where terrorists have sought safe haven to regroup and strike against its interests.

    The proposed U.S. Africa Command, known as AFRICOM, which was announced by U.S. President George W. Bush in February, will enable U.S. forces to anchor on the African continent, creating anew command to encompass all security operations.

    Analysts said the move would herald a fundamental shift in U.S. policy that champions an active approach toward fledgling states prone to breed extremism, though more tangible needs are also at stake.

    The United States at present oversees five separate military commands worldwide, and Africa remains divided among three of them: European Command covers operations spanning 43 countries across North and sub-Saharan Africa; Central Command oversees the restive Horn of Africa; and Pacific Command looks after Madagascar.

    All three maintain a low-key presence, largely employing elite special operations forces to train, equip and work alongside national militaries.

    A perceived vulnerability to al-Qaeda and other transnational terrorist organizations, however, has fueled calls for a more aggressive security posture in Africa.

    A number of al-Qaeda operatives are said to be hiding in the Horn of Africa, Somalia specifically, and they continue to pose a grave threat to U.S interests in the region, which demands the presence of some 1,800 troops tasked with detecting and disrupting terrorist schemes.

    U.S intelligence has also used the base to coordinate activities around the Horn; the Central Intelligence Agency allegedly bankrolled an alliance of warlords that were driven outof the capital, Mogadishu, by Islamist militia mid last year.

    Somalia has been without a functioning government for the past 16 years and is believed to have harbored members of al-Qaeda.

    But critics counter that military-centric policies could backfire and breed radicalism where it hardly exists by sustaining despotic regimes that usurp funding and military hardware to tighten their grip on power.