U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel praised Mongolian troops 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, according to Reuters. Hagel was the first U.S. defense 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. "As one of the world's fastest growing economies, Mongolia has a growing stake in regional and global security," he said.
