The delegation held talks with the under-secretaries for political and military issues in Southeast Europe, Michael Coulter and Christopher Hoh.
"The talks were very concrete and very clear messages were exchanged. The US side thanked Croatia for its participation in the NATO-led peace operation in Afghanistan," Cosic told reporters.
He said that the Croatian delegation, which included representatives of all major parliamentary parties, had clearly stated that Croatia expected that what it was doing on the defence reform front and in the peace operation in Afghanistan would be recognised with "a clear statement at the Riga meeting, as well as at the meeting of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Quebec," scheduled for November.
The two sides discussed expanding the Croatian contingent in Afghanistan from 150 to 300 soldiers at the most, and such a decision would be debated and voted in the course of this year and in 2007, Cosic said.
The meeting underlined the need to renew a programme of military training of Croatian officers in the United States as part of US military assistance, which is a significant contribution to the strengthening of the Croatian Armed Forces and their participation in NATO-led peace operations, Cosic said.
Washington discontinued the training of Croatian officers because of Zagreb's unwillingness to sign an agreement on the non-extradition of US soldiers to the International Criminal Court.
The Croatian delegation, which consists of seven parliamentary deputies and three senior officials of the Defence Ministry, was to continue talks at the Pentagon on Monday. It is scheduled to visit Congress on Tuesday.
After Washington, the delegation travels to Minnesota, which is Croatia's partner-state in the US State Partnership Programme for NATO.