White House officials on Thursday downplayed US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's surprise statement that US combat operations in Afghanistan could end next year, saying the withdrawal timetable was in line with a previous NATO agreement.
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s shock announcement that the US would wind down combat operations in Afghanistan next year has dominated dialogue at a two-day NATO meeting of defense ministers in Brussels.
NATO has reached a preliminary agreement to wind down its air operations in Libya by October 31, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Friday, a day after Muammar Gaddafi’s death.
Marc Perelman speaks to Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Secretary-General of NATO. They discuss the fall of the Gaddafi regime, just over 5 months after NATO began its military operations over Libya.
Douglas Herbert meets Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO Secretary General. They discuss the military intervention in Libya, which enters its 100th day on Monday. They also comment on the overwhelming weight of the United States in the transatlantic alliance.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen speaks to Caroline de Camaret about the worrying situation in Libya and the position of NATO on this crisis. Despite the fear of a blood bath in Libya, NATO does not intend to intervene without a UN mandate.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Friday that the alliance needs an anti-missile defence system to deter nuclear and long-range missile threats, including from non-state actors, but assured Moscow that NATO posed no threat to Russia.
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen will meet Russian leaders, including President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, in Moscow on Wednesday in a first visit by a NATO head since Russia's 2008 war with Georgia.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says he is confident members of the transatlantic alliance will make a "substantial" increase in their commitments to the war in Afghanistan, despite French and German refusals to send more soldiers.
