US Defense Secretary Robert Gates got a closer view of the Afghanistan war Tuesday, with a visit to troops fighting the Taliban in the country's rugged south. Gates flew to Kandahar early Tuesday for meetings with U.S. and British generals overseeing the current military campaign in Marjah. Gates presented Silver Stars for valor to two Army aviators before scheduled visits with U.S. forces at small forward operating bases elsewhere in the south. On Monday, the Pentagon chief said the progress made in the Marjah offensive, launched last month, is encouraging, but he stopped short of saying the war is at a turning point. The Marjah campaign routed most Taliban fighters from a town they once controlled, without a high casualty toll for U.S. troops and the Afghan security forces fighting alongside them.