Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Kabul on Wednesday for talks with his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, Iranian media reported.

The two leaders are expected to discuss Afghan problems and ways to solve them, regional cooperation issues, Afghan economic recovery and Iranian participation in it and expansion in cooperation the financial, trade and energy spheres.

Antiterrorism and anti-drugs efforts may also be discussed by Karzai and Ahmadinejad during the visit.

The visit of the Iranian president - Ahmadinejad''s first - overlaps with an unannounced tour by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who arrived in Afghanistan on Monday.

The United States has strongly criticized Iran for supporting Taliban, something Iran denies. Afghanistan was also criticized by the United States for not making enough effort to negotiate an end to the conflict with Taliban in the country.

Both Ahmadinejad and Karzai were reelected last year in widely criticized elections.