US Amb. to NATO: "Our alliance" in Mideast very strong

BRUSSELS, Nov 7 (KUNA) -- The new US Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison said on Tuesday the US is prepared to face any turmoil in the Middle East.
"Certainly we are looking at all of our defense capabilities for any turmoil in the Middle East. Our missile defense systems are set up for anything that would come out of the Middle East. And most certainly, our alliances in the Middle East are very strong, the ones that we have," she told a news conference at NATO headquarters ahead of NATO defence ministers meeting.
"We have partners in the Middle East. In fact, we have partners who help us as part of our NATO forces in Afghanistan, for instance. So we have Middle East partners that we appreciate very much, and then we have partners in Defeat ISIS as well from the Middle East that are not NATO members, but they are strong NATO partners," she said.
Hutchison said she is really looking forward to her first NATO Defense Ministerial as the US Ambassador.
She said that US Defence secretary James Mattis is going to host the Defeat-ISIS Coalition at NATO headquarters on Thursday.
"NATO has become a member of the Defeat ISIS Coalition, so he (NATO Secretary General) will be, as the US, hosting the Coalition and the ministers who are here that are members of the Defeat ISIS Coalition," she noted.
The meeting will provide "with the up to date information about where we are, but also the stabilization effort that we will want to pursue for Iraq after ISIS is defeated in Iraq and Syria," she added.
NATO defence ministers will begin Wednesday a two-day meeting that will focus on Afghanistan, North Korea and review NATO's command structure. (end) nk.ibi