US President George W. Bush became the first sitting American president to visit Mongolia, which recently sent troops to Iraq to aid in the US-led invasion.
Mongolian President Nambariin Enkhbayar and Bush marked the meeting with a ceremony on Monday, in which Bush told listeners, "Both our nations were settled by pioneers on horseback who tamed the rugged plains," he said, a reference to the age of Ghengis Khan.
Mongolia, with a population of 2.7 million, ousted a Communist-led government 15 years ago.
"Both our nations shook the yoke of colonial rule, and built successful free societies.” Bush said, according to the <i>New York Times</i>.
He added that “And both our nations know that our responsibilities in freedom's cause do not end at our borders - and that survival of liberty in our own lands increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands."
Among those in front of him were expected to be two Mongolian soldiers who fatally shot a suicide truck bomber in Iraq.
