AFP - US President Barack Obama's top military adviser visited quake-devastated Haiti to evaluate relief and reconstruction efforts and meet with the country's leaders.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, met President Rene Preval and Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, as well as visited US troops stationed here.

"It's a chance for him to come out and get his boots on the ground and visit with his troops," said David Johnson, a US defense spokesman in Haiti, adding the visit would last only one day.

"He'll also get a brief on... where we are right now and maybe what it looks like down the road."

It was Mullen's first visit to the Caribbean nation since last month's 7.0-magnitude quake.

"The chairman came down here to visit with the troops, thank them for what they are doing and speak to Haitian leaders," Mullen's spokesman John Kirby told AFP. "He met with both the prime minister and President Preval."

Mullen toured city streets "to see the scope of the damage and the reconstruction effort" and had lunch with soldiers from the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division, Kirby said.

He later toured the port and spoke with US military engineers.

Colonel Bill Buckner of the military Joint Task Force in Haiti said Mullen told the president the United States was committed to supporting the country.

"The president shared with the chairman some of the challenges he sees remaining and thanked him for the support of the US military," Buckner said in a statement.

"The chairman reiterated President Obama's pledge to remain committed to the mission here and to helping the Haitian people in this time of need."

The United States has reduced its troop numbers in the country and off the coast of Haiti by about half from more than 20,000 just after the catastrophe.

US officials have said they expect to further reduce numbers as aid operations gather pace.

More than 222,000 people were killed in the January 12 earthquake, which also left some 1.2 million people homeless.