U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has met with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on the second day of his visit to the country.

Earlier, Gates endorsed the idea of halting the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq this summer for the first time.

General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, has indicated in recent weeks that he would like an evaluation period this summer to assess the impact on Iraqi security forces of reducing the U.S. military presence from 20 brigades to 15 brigades.

Only one of the five brigades has departed thus far. The last of the five is scheduled for withdrawal by the end of July.
In remarks at a U.S. base in southern Baghdad on Monday, Gates said Petraeus had given him his view on the drawdown, which some fear could result in giving up some of the security gains of recent months.

In his endorsement of Petraeus' suggestion to pause withdrawals after July, Gates made it clear that President George W. Bush would have the final say.

In the meantime, violence has raged in Iraq over the past two days.

The U.S. military said a car bomb exploded near an Iraqi checkpoint in an open market area north of Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 23 civilians and wounding 25.

And on Monday, twin car bombs targeted a meeting of U.S.-allied Sunni tribal leaders in Baghdad, killing at least 14 civilians and wounding 45.