US, Russian military officials meet amid concerns over the fight against terrorism

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army, General Mark Milley, met with the chief of the Russian General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, here, officials said. US military officials declined to give any details of the meeting other than issuing a brief statement, which said the two discussed “risk reduction and operational de-conflict”.

The US and Russia have discussed in the past how to avoid conflict in Syria, where both countries maintain troops, and in the Black Sea, where both armies conduct naval patrols. The two sides also discussed Moscow’s incursion into Crimea and the mobilization of troops along Ukraine’s eastern and southern borders.

But General Milley, on a tour of Europe this week, is focused on countering terrorism and violent extremism in the region. He met with NATO defense chiefs in Athens on Monday before meeting with a small group of his counterparts in Berlin. On Tuesday, he was meeting in London with the military chiefs of the so-called Five Eyes countries, including Canada, Australia, the UK and New Zealand.

The meeting with General Gerasimov came weeks after the turmoil ended the 20-year US presence in Afghanistan, with the Taliban once again in power and the US limiting its ability to keep a lid on terrorism emanating from within the country. Gave.

President Biden has said the US will be vigilant to ensure that terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda or the Islamic State’s Afghanistan branch do not reorganize to the extent that they can threaten Americans at home or abroad. Mr Biden, along with top military officials such as General Milley, have said the US can monitor the situation on the ground and conduct air strikes as needed to keep terrorist groups at bay.

But that so-called “above the horizon” capability means that drones or manned aircraft must fly hundreds of miles from bases in the Gulf region, denying the US military adequate coverage of ground-locked Afghanistan. When Mr Biden announced his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan. In April, US officials said they hoped to establish a presence in Central Asia, possibly in Uzbekistan, to help conduct counterterrorism operations from there.

However, so far, the Russian government is unwilling to support the American effort. Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected Mr Biden’s request for such a basis at a summit in Geneva in June.

On Wednesday, Britain is expected to agree an international plan to prevent China and Russia from turning Afghanistan into a haven for terrorists, according to a statement by British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Helsinki meeting between Gens. Miley and Gerasimov met in person for the second time, having previously met in December 2019 in Switzerland. There have been several talks between the two since General Milley took over in September 2019.

This story has been published without modification to the text from a wire agency feed