The United States (US) military is in a better position to provide Mexico's military with training, resources and intelligence as its southern neighbour battles deadly drug cartels, Defense Secretary Robert Gates says.

More than 1,000 people have been killed in Mexico in drug-related violence this year. In 2008, the toll doubled from the previous year to 6,290. Both the US and Canada have warned that murders related to drug activity in certain parts of Mexico, particularly along the border with the US, raised the level of risk in visiting the country.

"I think we are beginning to be in a position to help the Mexicans more than we have in the past. Some of the old biases against cooperation between our militaries and so on, I think, are being set aside," Gates said in an interview aired yesterday on NBC television's 'Meet the Press'.

"It clearly is a serious problem," he said.

Gates praised Mexican President Felipe Calderon for taking on the cartels and sending the Mexican army into the fight.

"What I think people need to point out is the courage that Calderon has shown in taking this on, because one of the reasons it's gotten as bad as it has is because his predecessors basically refused to do that," he said.