Uk and us defence chiefs assess afghanistan and libya operations

News story UK AND US DEFENCE CHIEFS ASSESS AFGHANISTAN AND LIBYA OPERATIONS The UK Defence Secretary, Dr Liam Fox, and Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir David Richards, have met with

their American counterparts in Washington to discuss current operations including Libya and Afghanistan. This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition

government Dr Fox and General Richards met with US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates and Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, to make an assessment of various operational

missions and to discuss the possibility of exploiting the emerging opportunities on the ground. After visiting the Pentagon, Dr Fox said: > I would first like to thank Secretary Gates and

 Admiral Mullen for > hosting General Richards and myself here at the Pentagon. > Today, as throughout much of our shared history, the UK and US stand > shoulder to shoulder in 

Afghanistan, the Gulf, fighting piracy and, > now, in Libya. > We had a wide range of discussions including the situation in > Afghanistan and Pakistan, developments in the Middle 

East, and the > evolving situation in Libya. > On Afghanistan, we discussed the way ahead for the transition > process and the challenges ISAF and our Afghan partners will face >

 heading into the summer months. > On the Middle East, we had very constructive discussions on the > challenges presented by the current situation in the region. With > Syria in 

particular we are both deeply concerned by the recent > reports of security forces killing demonstrators. The Syrian > government must start addressing the legitimate political demands

 of > its people. > “On Libya, we had good discussions on how to better exploit > emerging opportunities on the ground. I’m extremely grateful to > the US for their recent 

contribution of armed Predator UAVs > [Unmanned Aerial Vehicles] which will give NATO and our Arab allies > greater capability to take out [Gaddafi] regime forces that continue > to

 threaten the civilian population. > There is little doubt across the alliance that this key contribution > has proven to be of immense value protecting civilians in Misurata > and 

has helped Opposition forces to defend themselves against this > brutal regime there. This is further strengthened by Italy’s > recent announcement of additional air to ground attack 

capability. > We have seen significant progress made in the last 72 hours with > Gaddafi’s forces losing their grip on Misurata and we have > received reports of under-age soldiers 

and foreign mercenaries being > captured — this underlines the regimes inability to rely on its > own security forces. These are the tactics of an increasingly > desperate and weak 

regime. SHARE THIS PAGE The following links open in a new tab * Share on Facebook (opens in new tab) * Share on Twitter (opens in new tab) UPDATES TO THIS PAGE Published 27 April 2011