Kerry to Discuss Iraq, Ukraine with NATO in Brussels

Local Editor

US Secretary of State John Kerry is holding talks on the current crisis in Iraq and Ukraine in a meeting with the NATO alliance's foreign ministers in the Belgian city of Brussels on Wednesday.

Kerry flew to Brussels from Iraq to take part in the discussions that formally open June 25, which mainly focus on Iraq.

He met late on Tuesday with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton as well as other European partners and "discussed the grave security situation in Iraq."

US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said they also talked about "efforts to de-escalate tensions in Ukraine and efforts to support the political process in Libya."
Furthermore, Kerry met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President of Kurdistan region Massoud Barzani during his visit to Iraq.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon confirmed on Tuesday that nearly half of the 300 special operations soldiers that US President Barack Obama said he would send to Iraq arrived in the country and have begun their "mission."

NATO's top civilian official, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said that one of the other items on the meeting's agenda aside from the Iraq crisis is how NATO can help build Ukraine's military capacities, including by creating targeted trust funds.

The Brussels meeting is the final gathering of high-ranking government officials before the summit of NATO's leaders is scheduled for September in Wales.

Sources: News Agencies, Edited by website team