ASTANA, Kazakhstan, Aug 13, SPA -- A senior U.S. military official thanked Kazakhstan on Friday for sending troops to Iraq and said America and the former Soviet republic intend toexpand military cooperation. Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard B.Myers met with Kazakh military officials to discussstrengthening military ties, the Kazakh deployment in Iraqand future U.S. security assistance to the Central Asiannation, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. Myers called the meetings "very productive" and said heand his Kazakh counterpart, Maj. Gen. Bulat Darbekov, hadagreed to work together to expand military ties. Myers praised Kazakhstan's 27-strong contingent ofmilitary engineers in Iraq, calling their contribution"tremendous and valuable." He said Kazakh soldiers had defused more than 2.5 million explosive devices in Iraq since their deployment last year.--SPA1505 Local Time 1205 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/191551