The US will seek to wind down combat operations in Afghanistan during 2013, more than a year before a deadline for withdrawal, the defence secretary says. Speaking while travelling to a Nato summit, Leon Panetta said the US hoped to switch to a role training and supporting Afghan forces.
The UK contribution to the NATO operation in Libya cost £212 million pounds (333 million dollars), Defense Secretary Philip Hammond said on Thursday in London.
The UK has been without a single warship allocated to defending its shores for a month because of defense cuts and operations in Libya, the Ministry of Defense has confirmed.
Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa described the death of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as a “murder” and strongly rejected foreign in the North African country.
The world is safer today than in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the United States, with global terror groups weaker than 10 years ago, senior EU and NATO officials said Monday.
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and rebels trying to oust him said their forces had advanced to within 80 km of the capital Tripoli.
UK Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox played host on Tuesday to his French counterpart in London to exchange the ratified Defence and Security Co-operation Treaty between the two countries.
UN is withdrawing all international staff from the Libyan capital Tripoli following a mob attack on its offices. UN buildings and some foreign missions were targeted by angry crowds following a NATO air strike that reportedly killed a son of Col Gaddafi.
Leaders of the world's major emerging powers will meet again Thursday in China to tackle the conflict in Libya, reform of the international financial system and look at how developing nations can exercise more clout on the global stage.
China hosts Wednesday a Group 20 leaders meeting, originally scheduled to address the international monetary system, most probably criticism of the US Federal Reserve for flooding the world with money, but the latest world events, Japan, Libya and Europe’s debt crisis are bound to change the emphasis of the agenda.