Conditions improving for American return to Libya: US Marine commander

A US military commander has declared that conditions are improving on the ground in Libya for the return of an American diplomatic post in the country, six years after the US envoy was killed there in an attack on the Benghazi consulate.

"There were indications that ... recent improvements in the landscape and the operating environment of Libya were suggestive that a reintroduction a diplomatic mission was on the near horizon," Commander of Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response Africa, Col. Adam Chalkley, stated on Friday as quoted in the US-based military.com news website.

According to the report, the taskforce was established as a result of the September 11, 2012 attack on the Benghazi diplomatic post that killed US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Chalkley further asserted during a presentation at the Virginia-based Potomac Institute for Policy Studies that he spent much of his time on a recent six-month deployment in the war-torn North African nation helping to ensure there would be no repeat of the deadly attack that also burnt down the US consulate.

"State Department was putting a lot of effort into building that out and doing key leader engagements that would enable [this] from a national interest perspective, so that really dominated what we were doing,” he said.

"There is obviously a large desire to return to a US diplomatic presence," Chalkley further underlined, pointing out that conditions looked favorable for a time and then declined. "But there is still engagement; there are still things happening on a diplomatic front and building diplomatic ties."

The crisis-response task force deployed in March and spent seven months operating out of Morón Air Base in Spain and Sigonella Naval Air Station in Italy.

"I had three KC-130s, six MV-22s and a reinforced infantry company," Chalkley added, describing his force of approximately 850 US Marines and sailors.

He further explained: "It's not just our team going in and being the sole responders. Special operations forces and other elements arrayed across the continent ... they are able to do the things they do because they know that we are there to backstop them.

According to the Marine commander, "We are there to facilitate and ensure that they are able to do their very discreet, very important missions in a manner that, again, helps serve as a deterrent, helps uncover potential threats [and] puts pressure on those organizations that serve as threats."

Chalkley further expressed confidence about not allowing another threat against US facilities to go unnoticed, saying: "The reason those things aren't happening is because people know that we are there and ready to come in. There is an absolute recognition that operations and forces postured on the periphery, able to respond is a great deterrent for people behaving badly."

His task force, the report added, worked directly for US Marine Forces Europe and Africa but spent considerable time working at the State Department and Special Operations Command Forward (SOF) - North and West Africa.

"In many ways, our tie with SOF and our tie with Department of State efforts to reintroduce a diplomatic mission into Libya really dominated the entirety of our time,” Chalkley emphasized.

He further clarified that the unit's primary mission was to provide limited crisis and contingency response, conduct operations to safeguard American citizens, facilities and interests in theater.

The development came nearly two weeks after scores of Libyans waged a protest rally against a new US airstrike on a desert area in the country’s southwestern town of Uwaynat, near the Algerian border, insisting the strike targeted and killed civilians.

PressTV-Libyans protest US airstrike over ‘death of civilians’

Scores of Libyans protest against a new US airstrike on a desert area in the country’s southwestern town of Uwaynat

The rally was staged by members of the ethnic Tuareg tribe living in the area pounded by US forces.

They demanded that the Tripoli-based government launch a probe into the deadly attack.

The divided North African country still struggles to restore stability seven years after a popular uprising that toppled and killed Libya’s long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi following heavy bombardment of government positions by NATO.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk