Shanahan will meet with U.S. forces and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani for the first time in his new role. He says he has not received any instructions so far to reduce the number of troops stationed in Afghanistan by nearly 14,000.
He also said the United States has important security interests in the region.
The government of Ghani has been banned from peace talks between Taliban negotiators and US envoys, and the hard-line Islamic movement has called his government an American puppet. Kabul is also concerned that a sharp reduction in U.S. forces could lead to chaos in the region.
"It's important that the Afghan government is involved in discussions about Afghanistan," Shanahan told a small group of journalists who traveled with him on an unannounced trip.
"Afghans must decide what Afghanistan will look like in the future. "It's not about the United States, it's about Afghanistan," he said.
Hot Model No.: