US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived in the Turkmen capital Ashkhabad on Sunday on the fourth leg of his Central Asia tour, following a visit to Afghanistan where he met interim government chief Hamid Karzai. Rumsfeld is to hold talks with Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov, Defense Minister Rejepbay Arazov and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov in the Caspian port of Turkmenbashi later Sunday. Discussions will likely center on the US-led war on terrorism in Afghanistan. Turkmenistan, which shares a border with Afghanistan, has become a key route for aid deliveries to the war-ravaged country, although no anti-terrorist coalition troops are stationed on its territory. Rumsfeld arrived in Ashkhabad at 2:00 am, flying in from the strategic west Afghan city of Herat, where he met earlier with powerful warlord Ismail Khan. He had also held talks with interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai in the Afghan capital Kabul and visited US troops based at Bagram air base, north of the city. Early Saturday, he had met with Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev in Bishkek. Rumsfeld is to leave Turkmenistan late Sunday for Kazakhstan, from where he will fly on to Moscow Monday. Turkmenistan is a politically isolated former Soviet republic, which is run by the unpredictable Niyazov, who has been elected president-for-life. Niyazov has amassed absolute power in Turkmenistan over the decade of his rule and has also fashioned an eccentric personality cult around himself. Bureau Report