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Joint Chief of Staff General Mark Milley has met for the first time since December 2019 with General Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of staff, the Pentagon said in a statement.
“The meeting was a follow-up to talks aimed at improving communication between the military leaders of the two countries to reduce the risk and risk of conflict,” said Milley’s spokesman, Col. Dave Butler. He did not provide any details as both parties agreed that the conversation would be private.
The meeting took place during the Pentagon’s search for locations on the Afghan border to monitor jihadist groups, al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, 20 years after the US withdrawal. Concerned about the resurgence of both groups, the US military has said it will maintain the ability to strike “off the horizon” if threatened. However, it would be easier if the Pentagon could operate from one or more countries north of Afghanistan, which had bases at the beginning of the millennium, such as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Currently, the US military does not have access to any Central Asian country to carry out such operations, and Russia, which considers them its area of influence, has bases there.
Another topic that could have been discussed in the Milley-Gerasimov talks is Ukraine, to which Washington supplied arms and supplies in the fight against Russian-backed separatists.
On Monday, Ukraine launched a joint military exercise with the United States and other NATO countries, as tensions with Russia remain high over a long-running conflict in the east of the country. In April, Russia mobilized around 100,000 on the borders of Ukraine. soldiers and raised fears that the conflict would escalate further. Moscow later announced the withdrawal of these forces.
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